Hearing the Silence
by crowfliesmyass
Summary: She never believed in fairytales. All of that 'getting rescued by a prince' stuff meant nothing. She believed in reality, and in reality, you either sink or swim. You want out of the tower? Break yourself out, because nobody's going to come and get you. Steve Rogers/OC (Rated M for language and depression themes.)
1. Chapter 1

_7 Years ago_

_It was a pity none of Ellie's friends were in her P.E class. Without them, she never had anyone to team up with. Of course, the worst part was that Penny Rose and her posse was in her class. _

_When they got dressed to go back to class, Ellie always went to the far side of the locker room to avoid everyone else. She always used the shower last and always waited for everybody to leave so that she didn't have to walk past them on her way out. _

_One lesson, something interesting happened. The class was playing volleyball and Penny invited Ellie to play on her team. She was cautious at first, obviously, but decided to just go with it to get the girl off her back. The lesson actually went well and for once; Penny was genuinely nice. Ellie began to think that perhaps she misjudged her all along._

_When the lesson ended, Ellie went back to her side of the locker room. Once everyone had showered, she stripped down and grabbed her bar of soap. About one minute into her shower time, the fire alarm suddenly burst out. The screaming alarm got Ellie to jump out of the shower to get dressed, but to her horror, her clothes had vanished._

_She panicked at first, but then swallowed her pride and wrapped her towel around her body. She needed to get to safety if there really was a fire. She first stuck her head out of the locker room, to check if the coast was clear. Once she was confident that it was, she started stalking down the hallway._

_When she got to the first staircase, she forgot to stop and check if anyone was there, so she just walked right past it. _

_"SCARFACE!" a high-pitched voice called out. She stopped dead in her tracks. She knew that voice and knew exactly where it was coming from. "Where are you going?" the voice teased. Ellie was too afraid to even turn around. _

_The entire hallway just filled up with people and every one of them was laughing at her. Some were even taking videos on their phones. _

_A pile of clothes were thrown at her feet by Penny, who acted as the ring-leader. Ellie carefully bent down to pick them up, hushing the strong urge to cry. She could feel her face heat up like a furnace. If she could've disappeared into thin air, she would've. As she crouched down, someone darted behind her and ripped the towel from her grasp. She caught it before anyone could see anything and covered herself up again._

_That was it. There was only so much she could take before bursting into tears. She turned around to run, but her wet feet worked to her disadvantage and she slipped. At this point, she was on the ground, looking up at everybody laughing at her._

_Penny stepped forward, her face twisted into a wicked grin. "You didn't think I actually liked you, right?" she taunted her even more. _

_Ellie shook her head and tried her best to move further away from Penny. "Please, just stop," she pleaded, gasping. _

_The blond's smile just got wider as she took out her phone. "Say cheese," she teased and just as she was about to take the picture, her cellphone broke into a million pieces. _

_"STOP!" Ellie screamed, silencing the crude laughter of the school. Penny's feet lifted off the ground, the lights began to flicker and then, there was silence. Everybody watched in horror as Penny started floating in mid-air, chocking on something. It looked like someone was strangling her with their bare hands, but there was nothing. _

_The blond kicked and kicked and held out her hand for someone to help her. Nobody stepped forward. All it took was one nod from Ellie and Penny flew to the other side of the hallway, hitting her back against the wall. She was unconscious. Everybody stared at Ellie, who had stopped crying and looked just as horrified as everyone else. _

_The next person was Penny's boyfriend, who was the same guy that tried to remove her towel. Some kind of force grabbed him by the collar and held him against the lockers. _

_"Jesus!" he cried, kicking and squirming, "you are a freak!" _

_That last comment was the last straw. The school watched as he hovered toward the ceiling, straight for the light._


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey! **

**So before we begin, I'd just like to clear up a few things. Firstly, her powers. She was born with them and she did kind of know about them as a child. They work according to how she's feeling, if that makes sense. As for the teleporting, she doesn't know about that at this point. Her telekinesis only really started developing when she was a teen. If that doesn't really clear things up, feel free to message me. **

**To OkieDokieLoki, thank you so much for the review. It really helped me to see my mistakes and learn from them, so I really do thank you. About Penny, she's a very small character, so I don't really want to go into too much detail. I want to focus on Ellie and the Avengers. She's mean because Ellie is an outcast. I'm not sure if that's good enough reason, but in my high-school it is. I based Penny on this girl at my school. She's just naturally mean. **

**I hope that makes things easier to understand. **

**Thanks for those reviews and I hope my story doesn't explode this time. **

**Enjoy.**

**By the way, this chapter takes place WAY in the future (not like 100 years, but like six or seven)**

**I DO NOT OWN THE AVENGERS! **

**And there will be some mild language. **

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6 August 2013

21:45

Avengers Tower –New York City

"Excuse me, but back in my day, we didn't have any fancy machines –we had to wash and dry our very own dirty dishes," Steve defended himself from Stark's stories. He was telling everybody about the time he caught Steve trying to figure out how to use the dishwasher. The story seemed to amuse everybody, including Stark, who brought it up whenever he had a chance. To him, it would never get old.

"You're right," Tony sighed, tilting his head to the side, "but trust me, if you saw what I saw; you'd find it funny too."

Pepper rolled her eyes. As much as she loved Tony, sometimes his ego got the best of him. "Who's hungry?" she changed the subject. Almost the entire room jokingly raised their hands.

"Thank God. I thought I was the only hungry one here," Clint said, gulping down the last of his drink. "Make that four pizzas, extra pepperoni and cheese and a large Pepsi. Anything for you guys?"

Natasha smacked the back of his head, sarcastically laughing. "How do you guys eat so much? It's unnatural. Especially you and Thor."

"The _other guy _doesn't even eat as much as you," Bruce agreed. Tony commanded Jarvis to order food for everybody. They all placed their orders one by one, and when it was Maria's turn, she ordered two sets of food.

Once that was over and done with, Steve was the first to notice that she ordered an extra meal. "What?" he smirked, "S.H.I.E.L.D doesn't feed you enough?" he joked. She sighed and ignored him.

"I hope you don't mind, but I brought a guest. I'm sure some of you, namely Stark, have already hacked into our system and read her files. She'll be training with you as from tomorrow."

Tony scoffed slightly as he poured himself another drink. The rest of the gang looked at each other to see if anyone knew who the mysterious guest was.

"Ellie?" Clint asked as he leaned back into the couch. His eyes went from Maria to the sudden opening elevator doors in a second. Maria stood up and went to the door, waiting for the guest to step out and be escorted.

Everybody stopped what they were doing and watched. The guest was a young woman. She had dark brown wavy hair and chestnut brown eyes. She was wearing dark blue skinny jeans with a pair of longs brown leather boots that ended below her knees. Underneath the loose army jacket, she was wearing a dark gray t-shirt.

As she got closer, the bruise below her eye and the cut on her bottom lip became clearer. She also had a scar on her left eyebrow that had been there for a while.

"Am I late?" she asked awkwardly, glancing at her watch. "Sorry."

Maria smiled and beckoned her to move closer toward the rest of the team. The woman was nervous –almost scared. The group in front of her wasn't just any group of people –it was the Avengers; the guys who saved the world.

"This is Agent Ellie Dixon."

"The Poltergeist," Stark corrected, clearing his throat. Maria glanced at him for a second and continued.

The first person to react or say something was Thor, who stood up and nodded once. "Greetings," he nodded, bowing slightly. When she stuck her hand out to shake his hand, he just took it and gently planted a kiss on her knuckles. She felt a bit stupid at first, but couldn't help herself from smiling. His mop of wavy, golden hair ended just past his shoulders. His smile was warm and sincere. She shook his hand, not knowing what else to do. After all, he was the Almighty Thor; the famous God from Asguard. He was practically a myth.

After Thor, Steve stood up. "Ma'am," he nodded once and shook her hand. His blonde hair was pushed back. She watched as he grasped her hand and with his and shook it, then her eyes darted to his, brown on crystal blue. Deep inside, it took almost all of her self control to not bombard him with a million and one questions. He didn't tear his eyes from hers for a second –only when she let go of his hand. He sat down again and waited for her to greet everybody else.

Bruce shook her hand after Steve. She knew all about how the Hulk and Bruce- what it took for him to get mad. That was a bridge she never wanted to cross. She never wanted to have to fight him. As he shook her hand, he could feel her skin trembling ever so slightly. Despite the big smile on her face, he knew how nervous she was. He tried his best to ignore it. She didn't shake Tony's hand. The two just exchanged nods of acknowledgement. Pepper, however, rushed to her side to welcome her and even handed her a drink. Ellie didn't have to introduce herself to Clint and Nat- they already knew who she was. Both agents pulled her into a brief hug before Clint scampered off the other side of the room.

"What's with the um…," Natasha asked, studying the fresh bruise on her cheek.

"I got into a fight with this asshole."

Clint, who was standing at the bar, poured himself another drink and chuckled. "Did you get him?" he asked her and moved back the centre of the room, where everybody else was.

"Yeah," she sighed, "I did."

"That's good," Tony interrupted, scrolling through her file on one of his devices, "but I'd like to know more about what else you can do."

Pepper's smile disappeared as her eyes glared at him irritably. "Tony," she scolded, "Be nice."

"No no. That's why I'm here, right?" Ellie said, glancing at Stark and taking another small step forward, "I can teleport, I'm pretty sure that I can control things with my mind and I can kick some serious ass."

"What do you mean you 'think'?" Bruce asked her as he beckoned her to have a seat. She opened her mouth, but Stark beat her to it.

Tony sat down opposite her and picked up his glass. "She can't control it yet."

"Stark," Steve snapped, "I think we should let _her _introduce herself."

Tony shrugged and agreed to keep quiet as she spoke.

"He's right, though," Ellie agreed with him, "I can't control my telekinesis, but I know that whenever I need it most, it comes."

"Well if you can kick ass, which I know you can and put up with Stark, you'll fit right in," Nat butted in, taking her glass to her lips. "Besides, Pepper and I could really use another female around. These guys are getting sort of nosy."

Ellie smiled and set her glass down. Drinking wasn't really her thing. She hated the taste of alcohol. "So…are there any questions?"

"Yes," Stark replied almost immediately. Everybody looked at him, begging him not to shoot her down with questions. He got the hint from Pepper, who was already mad at him for just not showing up to his public appearance earlier on during the day. "No," he nodded and smiled.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you get your powers?" Bruce asked her as she took another sip.

She took one final gulp before responding. "Well I was born with them," she said and bit her bottom lip, "As a kid, I knew there was something wrong, but I mean, I was just a kid. My powers only ever worked according to my emotions so if I was really angry, things just flew around and if I was happy, everything stayed put."

"So your emotions control your powers? Interesting."

She took a deep breath. "Yeah. So if anybody pisses me off, good luck."

The room filled with buzzing chuckles. It made her feel more comfortable. She finally sat down on one of the couches next to Thor. As she looked around, she noticed that none of them were wearing their gear. Even Thor was dressed in jeans and a dark red t-shirt.

"So do you have any questions for us?" Clint asked her.

She shrugged and scrunched up her nose. "Do you guys do autographs?" she joked.

Again, there was a short, erupting boom of laughter. Even Maria was smiling. "Don't be like Coulson, now," she smirked, glancing at Steve. Everybody looked at Steve.

"W-what?" Ellie asked, not catching on but grinning anyway.

Stark patted Steve on the back jokingly. "Well Cap over here has his very own fanclub, run by our very own Agent Coulson."

"No way…Phil?!"

"Way," Nat laughed and crossed her legs. "He even has vintage cards."

Ellie laughed. She could never imagine Coulson acting that way. He did a damn good job of hiding his secret obsession from the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. She never would've guessed. She opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it again. She didn't want to embarrass herself.

"What?" Clint asked her, noticing.

She bit her lip again. "Nothing." Thankfully, he let it go. There was a moment of silence before someone broke the ice.

"So," Maria slurred and clapped her hands once. "The plan is for you to join the Avengers. You think you can handle it?"

Ellie looked around the room. All eyes were on her. She had two options -to walk away or to stay seated. A part of her just wanted to run. Not because she scared, but because she knew what she would probably never be as good as them. Their team already consisted of a billionaire Iron-Man, a super soldier, a Hulk, a God and two lethal assassins. What good would she bring to the team?

But then, if they could help her to control her powers, perhaps she'd be an asset instead of a liability. Maybe, there was a chance that she'd make them a little bit stronger and in return, they'd make her a better person. That was a chance she was willing to take.

She looked back at Maria and smirked.

"When do we begin?"

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**Coolio. Review please :D**


	3. Chapter 3

_She eyes me like a Pisces when I am weak_  
_I've been locked inside your heart-shaped box for weeks_  
_I've been drawn into your magnet tar-pit trap trap_  
_I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black  
_-Heart Shaped Box, Nirvana

Two Weeks Later

07:15

The Avengers Tower –New York City

"Miss Dixon, your presence is required in the kitchen for breakfast," Jarvis announced to a sleeping Ellie. She hardly even heard the announcement. Her arms hugged her pillow as she lay on her stomach with her backside slightly in the air. Her duvet was only half-covering her body.

"Miss Dixon," Jarvis called out. Slowly, she woke up, but just to hear what he had to say before going back to sleep. "Miss Dixon, Mr. Barton would like to know whether you're awake or not. He also mentioned something about water and a bucket."

Opening one eye immediately, her mind replayed the last part of the message. She knew exactly what Clint meant by water and a bucket and the last thing she wanted was to have to start the day soaking wet.

"Ma'am, need I remind you that your presence is required in the kitchen for breakfast?" Jarvis asked, much to Ellie's annoyance. "Mr. Barton has a message for you, Miss Dixon. Would you like me to play the file?"

She lifted her head and scratched her eyes. "Yeah, sure," she yawned and sat up.

"_Elizabeth Dixon," _Clint's patronizing voice filled her room, "_You have five minutes to wake up and come up to breakfast. Stark even gave me permission to pour a bucket of ice water over your head if I have to. Get your ass up here before I eat everything." _

Ellie sighed and kicked her duvet off. Standing up, she made her way to the shower before slipping into a pair of grey sweatpants and a skin-tight black AC/DC t-shirt. She put her wet, brown hair down and threw on her old pair of Converse.

"Jarvis," she called out, leaving her room, "give Clint a message for me?"

"Of course, ma'am."

She bit her lip as she pressed the up button for the elevator. "Tell him that me and my sweet ass are on the way and that he needs to calm his tits," she said in the most teasing voice she could. The elevator ride was fast and before she knew it, she was waltzing through the living room toward the kitchen. She could even hear Jarvis repeating her message to Hawkeye. "Good morning," she greeted everybody. They all stopped eating to acknowledge her.

"Nice shirt," Tony said, nodding his head, "You have good taste in music."

She smiled and helped herself to breakfast. "Thanks. I could say the same about you."

"Damn it!" Clint hissed, "I was so looking forward to getting you soaked."

Ellie rolled her eyes as she sat down next to Steve. At first, the atmosphere was quiet as everybody enjoyed breakfast. The only noise was the sound of Clint's loud, obnoxious chewing. It was quickly dealt with by Natasha.

"Eat like a normal human being or I'll shove the food right down your throat," she warned him, frowning. That sparked up conversation between Nat and Pepper.

Pepper nudged Tony with her elbow and sighed. "He does the exact same thing!" she complained, looking at Natasha and shaking her head.

"Men," Nat agreed, shaking her head too. Clint and Tony exchanged cocky grins of guilt while Steve, Thor and Bruce just sort of shrugged at each other. Ellie wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and just kept quiet.

"In our defense," Stark started, taking a sip of his orange juice, "we're just appreciating the food."

Clint chuckled in agreement. "Isn't that like one of the Ten Commandment?" he asked, snickering. That seemed to make the rest of them laugh, too.

Ellie shook her head and swallowed the piece of bacon that was in her mouth. "No," she giggled, "Not even close."

Barton shrugged and shoved more food into his mouth. After an hour, he and Thor were the only ones still eating. Bruce had left a while ago to work in his lab and Pepper had left to attend some meeting on behalf of Tony, who opted to join Bruce in the lab. Natasha went on some kind mission for S.H.I.E.L.D, Steve and Ellie were in one of the training rooms.

"You know, a lot of girls would kill just for a couple of minutes with the Captain," she teased, raising her two fists to start.

"Alright. Let's just stay focused," Steve scoffed, with a small smile, patting the back of his arm to show her where to aim.

She took a deep breath and waited for his signal. His head nodded once and she took a step back before sending her fist to meet Steve's arm.

"SHIT!" she hissed, shaking her fist in pain, "what are you made out of?! Steel?!" she grunted, rubbing her knuckles. "Jesus Christ!" she gasped. Steve chuckled, but didn't stop there. He hooked his foot around her ankle and yanked her hard. She immediately hit the ground, landing on her behind.

"Never let your guard down," he said, holding his hand out to help her up.

She accepted his gesture and as soon as she had a firm grip on his hand, she jumped up and twisted his arm behind his back. He quickly untangled himself and pushed her back, giving her enough time to prepare the perfect upper-kick. Her foot met the palm of his hand as he caught it and threw her leg to the side. She managed to regain her balance by doing a flip and landing on her feet.

Ellie took a few steps back and Steve watched to see what her next move was going to be. She started running towards him and he positioned himself to deal with whatever it was she was planning on doing. However, much to his surprise, just before she reached him, she went down on her back and slid right underneath his legs to behind him.

As he spun around, his stomach was met by her knee before her foot and he stumbled back. As he tried to get his head clear, she sprinted toward him again and quickly placed her hands on his shoulders and hurled herself into the air. She was basically doing a handstand on his shoulders. As she flew behind him, she kicked his knees in and he instantly went down.

As she went back to him to make another move, Steve turned around swiftly and looped his arms around her waist, tackling her to the ground. She squirmed her way out of his strong grip and pushed him off her and pinned him down. She held his hands down and sat on his torso, grinning down at him in a very triumphant way.

"I win," she sighed.

The Captain smiled back at her and for a second, he just let her enjoy the glory of winning. When she had her guard down at her most vulnerable moment, he was able to break free from her clasp and push her off. She flipped her body back up so that she was standing and by the time she was up, so was he. She balled her hands into tight fists and threw them at him, but he blocked them all. They kept on moving further toward the wall and when they reached it, she ran right up it, did a back flip and lopped her legs around his neck, swinging his entire body around until he was on the ground again.

Before he got up, she pressed her foot on his chest and held out her fists. "I told you…I win."

He lifted his head and smiled. "Honestly, I didn't expect that from you," he said and help up his hands in surrender. She removed her foot and waited for him to stand up.

"I was a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, remember?" she reminded him as they walked to the rack of towels and water bottles.

Steve wiped his face with one of the fluffy, blue towels. "How are your powers coming along?"

She sighed and sat down on the bench. "I don't know. It's complicated. Before I go to bed, I always try to move something. I kind of moved my phone last night for a couple of seconds…"

"That's good. Why didn't you tell any of us?" he asked, taking another sip of water.

Ellie shrugged. She didn't want to get their hopes up too high. She wanted to make sure that she could actually do it before telling them. After a few seconds of awkward silence, she cleared her throat and slung her towel around her neck. "Well," she huffed, "is that all for today?"

"Yeah. I just wanted to see your fighting style."

"Okay. So what now? What are your plans?"

He took a deep breath and thought about it. He had so many things on his list. He wanted to listen to more bands, watch more movies and even read some books. Of course, he wanted some recommendations from somebody he trusted. He asked Clint, but of course, the information he supplied was unreliable.

"Tell me about this AC/DC," he said, looking at her shirt.

She scrunched up her face and pondered. "Well, it's a band. A really really incredibly talented group of people," she started and thought about how badly she had always wanted to see them live. All of a sudden, her face lit up. "I bet Tony has piles of AC/DC stuff like records, concerts and stuff. We should totally watch them and just listen."

He laughed at how excited she got. It was just music, after all. She stood up and wiped her face. "C'mon, let's go!" she urged him eagerly. He stood up and just watched how the enthusiasm just completely possessed her.

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**'twas just a little filler chapter.**

**What do you think? Also, around which chapter do you think Steve and Ellie should get together? I don't want to rush things, but I also don't want to take forever, you know? **

**I'm really looking forward to their romance :D**

**Thanks xx**

**Don't forget to review!**


	4. Chapter 4

_Put to rest what you thought of me_  
_While I clean this slate_  
_With the hands of uncertainty_  
_So let mercy come and wash away_  
_What I've done_

-What I've Done by Linkin Park

* * *

"So I've sent out the invitations, I just need to confirm with the caterer," Pepper announced as she entered the main room, where everyone else was. She set her purse on the coffee table and put her hands on her hips, cocking them to the side. "Tony," she said, frowning at him, "did you hear me?"

Tony sighed and sat up straight. "Yes ma'am. I'll confirm later," he huffed and put his feet up on the table. Pepper shoved them off and sat down next to him.

"Invitations for what?" Ellie asked, turning the TV's volume down. Everybody else gathered around to hear too.

Pepper smiled. "Your 'welcome party', of course," she said as if Ellie was supposed to already know. Ellie narrowed her eyes confusedly and that's when Pepper came to a realization. "Oh my God," she slurred to herself. Her smile faded as she looked at Tony. "You didn't tell her?" she asked with her teeth clenched.

"It may have slipped my mind," Stark admitted slowly, biting his lip guiltily. "I was going to, but something extremely important came up, so I couldn't…"

"Anthony Stark!" Pepper gasped, standing up swiftly, "I asked you to do one thing!" she reprimanded him, pacing the floor. "I have to organize the food and entertainment and I have to constantly watch you like a hawk!" she started panicking, "now I have to organize Ellie's dress and hair and make-up and –"

"Dress?" Ellie snorted, slightly amused, "I really don't have to wear a dress and since when do I have a 'welcome party'?"

"You have a 'welcome party'. We all just kind of decided. It's tonight," Tony nonchalantly mentioned to her.

Natasha stood up, too and grabbed Ellie's arm. "We have to sort this out. Pepper's right, we have to get you a dress."

From the corner, Clint suddenly burst out laughing as if he had just heard the funniest joke ever. "Ellie in a dress?" he gasped in-between fits of heavy laughter. "Oh that's gold, Nat, no offence El."

Ellie shook her head. "There's nothing wrong with wearing a dress. You should try it sometime."

"This is bad. This is really bad. We have to improvise and go shopping like right now."

Natasha nodded her head. "Agreed. We have to do something about this mess."

"Sweet," Ellie smirked, enthusiastically punching air with her fist, "shopping. I'll just grab the stash of money I don't have and we'll go right down to the that Kardashian shop thing."

At that point, all of the guys were silent. They just watched as the three women sorted their issue out. Pepper bit her lip and thought for a moment, ignoring Ellie's protest. "Where do we begin?" she asked herself, staring into the distance. "Where do you shop?" she asked Ellie.

"I don't know… anywhere's fine."

"Okay. Lovely," Nat sarcastically said, combing a hand through her hair.

"Yeah," Pepper huffed and grabbed her purse. "I'll just grab Tony's card." Tony didn't even protest. He just shrugged and handed it to her willingly, just to get her off his back. She grabbed it and held on to it tightly. "Alright," she hummed and turned to Bruce and Steve, "you two need to do something productive and just double check with that and just make sure we have good enough music."

They didn't argue or confirm. At that point, nobody wanted to rub Pepper the wrong way. She was a woman on a mission and they just hoped that she wouldn't get angry at them like she did with Tony.

"Ellie, go get dressed," she commanded, not seeing that she was already dressed in light blue, ripped skinny jeans, a white t-shirt and black Doc Martens. Her black hair was down, flowing just past her shoulders. She turned to Natasha and cocked her head toward the elevator. "Let's get a move on; we don't have time to waste."

Within a couple of seconds, all three women had left the building.

…

At about 6.30pm, the first couple of guests arrived. Maria Hill, Nick Fury, Sharon Carter and Phil Colson arrived together, with a bunch of other S.H.I.E.L.D agents following. Since the party was a semi-formal occasion, they were smartly dressed in jeans and shirts and for the women; dresses and skirts. There was music playing all around the open living room and speakers played music outside on the balcony too.

There were about four food bars all around the venue, as well as one main bar. Tony even hired a bartender for the night.

Tony and Pepper were greeting the guests as they entered, while Thor took on the food bar. Bruce was long-lost in a small debate with a few of the S.H.I.E.L.D scientists and Natasha and Steve were positioned in a corner, arguing about Sharon Carter.

"I thought I told you to call her," she said, taking a sip of her drink.

Steve sighed. "It's not going to work out. She lost my trust. I only said yes to you to get you off my back."

"Well you failed miserably at that, then, because now I'm more determined to find you a date."

Steve shook his head and blocked her out. He wasn't interested in finding a girlfriend or a life-long partner at that moment. If a suitable woman suddenly entered his life, sure –he's play along. But he didn't want to go out of his way to find one.

"Where's Ellie?" He finally asked Natasha, who shrugged.

"Somewhere around here. Why?"

Steve scratched the back of his head and sighed. "What do you mean _why?_ I thought it was her party."

Natasha laughed and shook her head. "Relax, fossil," she teased, "she's mingling."

"Mingling?" he asked, with an arched eyebrow.

"You know, talking, getting to know people, saying no to dates, etcetera. God, Steve, you need to go out more," she sighed, looking around at the guests and straightening her dark blue dress.

Steve scrunched up his face. "Dates? What do you mean dates?"

Natasha rolled her eyes and gave him an obvious look. "What the hell do you think I mean? Besides, I was kidding," she said, laughing. Her laugh came to an instant halt when she spotted Clint walking towards them. Her happy facial expression turned into a glare of irritation.

"Hey guys," Clint grinned, holding up his drink. "Nice party, eh?"

Steve nodded in agreement.

Natasha rolled her tongue to the inside of her cheek. "Excuse me. I have other people to talk to," she mumbled and disappeared.

Clint frowned. "Who put a stick up her ass?" he asked Steve, who just shrugged and took another sip of his drink. Just then, Thor came pushing through the crowd of people. Clint and Steve exchanged looks of concern when they saw that Thor's hand was full of chocolate.

"Greetings, allies!" he roared, smiling excitedly.

"What's with the chocolate?" Clint asked him, raising an eyebrow.

Thor's smile widened. "I stumbled across the cascade of chocolate and just could not defy my urge," he explained, licking his fingers. "What strange technologies your world possesses."

"You just had to use your hand? You couldn't use the strawberries like a normal person?" Clint retorted, watching him lick his fingers in disgust. "That's gross."

Steve chuckled. "Let him have his fun, Barton. It is a party after all."

Clint sighed and looked away from Thor, who was content with his sticky snack. Suddenly, his face dropped. "No way," he gasped, looking past Steve's head at something in the distance. Both Thor and Steve looked back to see what all the fuss was about. It took a second for the crowd to disperse, exposing Ellie. She hardly even looked like Ellie anymore. Her black hair was in messy bun with chunks of hair sticking out. She wore a black mini dress with lace sleeves that ended at her elbows. Around her neck was her signature choker ribbon. She paired her dress with a pair of plain navy-blue platform pumps.

Thor, Clint and Steve all watched her. Although she looked different, she still remained faithful to her style. It was definitely an 'Ellie' look. It seemed as though she was by herself as she aimlessly wondered through the heaps of guests. Every now and then somebody would complement her or congratulate her on making the Avengers.

Finally, she spotted the three of them and fought her way through the crowd to get to them. She had been looking for a familiar face.

"Excuse me, ma'am, have you seen our teammate, Ellie?" Clint jokingly asked her, "She looks a little like you."

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Always the clown, huh, archer?" she smiled.

"But seriously," Clint snorted, "who are you, beautiful, can I have your number?."

Her pale cheeks went a light pink. She had never been called beautiful in her life. Clint always teased her about stupid things, but he always managed to make her smile, even for a moment. She secretly adored the brother-sister relationship they shared. It was nice to be able to feel like she had an actual family member in the world.

"Lady Elizabeth, you look rather ravishing," Thor bowed, smiling.

She bit her lip, not sure what to say. She had never been in a situation like that. All of a sudden, her face lit up. "Hey, Jane's here. She's looking for you," she informed him. Without hesitation, he took off to find his brunette Midgardian, leaving Steve and Clint with a very awkward three stood in silence for a few seconds. Steve opened his mouth to say something at one point, but then backed out.

Clint finally let out a loud, obnoxious sigh. "Well, not that this isn't interesting," he slurred, "but I'm gonna go find Nat. She seems a little troubled." And with, that Clint ventured off into the crowd, leaving Ellie and Steve.

"Why are you not dancing like everybody else? Even Pepper's out there," she went on, putting her hands on her waist. "Can you even dance, Captain?"

Steve looked up at the ceiling and smiled guiltily, trying to avoid the question. He didn't know how to dance. Peggy was supposed to teach him, but obviously that wasn't going to happen anymore. Ellie gasped.

"You don't know how to dance?!" she gushed with a shock look on her face. "I don't know how to dance either! We should just stick together and not dance _together_ then, you know?"

He chuckled and put his hand his pocket. "Yeah. We should. That's a good plan. And if they ask, we can just say that we're talking."

"Yeah!" she agreed, giggling. "Talking about how we can't dance."

Both of them laughed. It had been a while since either of them had something to laugh about. People gave them strange looks, but they didn't care.

"Honestly, I thought –" Steve voice stopped as a loud BANG filled the room. The music stopped and the entire room went silent for a couple of minutes, before people broke out into gasps and in some cases; screams. Instinctively, Steve and Ellie both rushed forward to see what was going on. The rest of the Avengers had made their way to the scene, too.

There was glass all over the floor, as something, or someone had completely smashed the entire window, which was basically the entire wall. As the smoke cleared, the Avengers were able to see what was going one more clearly; it was Doctor Doom.

"I don't remember him being on the guest list," Hawkeye said, not taking his eyes off of the masked villain.

Natasha narrowed her eyes at Doom. "Me either. Looks like we have a party crasher."

"Don't flatter yourselves, Avengers," Doom growled and stepped forward. As he did so, the entire crow of people moved further back. "I come with a mere warning."

Steve stepped in front of Ellie as Doom stepped towards her. "You're not welcome here, Doom" he snapped, "Get out."

"Give it a rest, soldier. I'm here for the new Avenger," his voice growled. He lifted a metal finger and pointed it at Ellie. "Enjoy your time as an Avenger while you still can. I shall not hesitate to put you down, should you ever attempt to stand in my way. It will be easy."

Ellie's face coiled into a glare. She stepped out of Steve's protective cover. "I appreciate the welcome, metal man, and the same goes to you," she retorted, puckering her eyebrow slightly.

Doom let out a cold cackle. "Already so eager, are we? We shall just have to see then," he said, then raised his hand in the air. Ellie watched in dismay as Doom's hand sucked up the entire room's electricity, before pointing at her again. In a split second, a ray of electricity darted right at her, but she disappeared into thin air, before reappearing a few feet away.

For a moment, Doom looked around the room for her before locating her. Meanwhile, the building lit up again. He let out another laugh.

"Impressive, I must admit. Luckily for you, I didn't come here to destroy you. I came to deliver a message. My work here is done. Goodluck."

And with that, he took off, leaving the Avengers to deal with the mess he had left behind.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx**

**Ellie's dress: ** .

**Ellie's hair: ** .

**Thanks and don't forget to review!**


	5. Chapter 5

You got the whole world choking  
From all the bridges that you're burning  
You're not the leader of an army,  
I'm not the enemy  
Step back down

-Shake the Ground by Cherri Bomb

* * *

"Ellie?! Oh my God!" Pepper exclaimed, being the first one to say anything after Doom left. She had managed to successfully teleport on command for the first time in her life. Nat, Clint, Thor and Steve all rushed to her with Bruce, Tony and Pepper joining them too.

Ellie's eyes widened as her fingers lightly touched her face. "Holy shit," she breathed in complete shook, staring into the distance.

"Are you ok –"

"I fucking did it!" she cut Bruce off. "Oh, that was insane!" she went on, starting to smile. The rest of the guests were still standing in a circle around them, gasping and whispering things to each other. "Oh shit, I gotta sit down," she said, starting to feel light-headed. Thor grabbed a nearby chair for her and she sat down, closing her eyes and holding her head.

"How are you feeling?" Bruce asked her, crouching down beside her. "I'd be interested to know how you got yourself to teleport on command."

She opened her eyes. "I just, I just concentrated," she stuttered, "and I was a little scared. Just a little. It was so strange. God, my head's pounding," she explained and leaned forward, nauseously. "Fuck. I think I'm gonna be sick."

Everybody moved back in one swift movement.

"Please don't," Clint begged. "Someone get her a bucket."

She groaned and held her head in pain. "It's like waking up with a hangover," she moaned.

"I know that feeling," Tony nonchalantly said, sipping his champagne. Pepper gave him a look and stepped forward to help her up.

Ellie held up her hand and shook her head. "I'm really going to be sick," she muttered, before gripping her mouth with one hand. Before any of them could help her or do anything, she disappeared again. A second later, she appeared on the other side of the room by the elevator, leaning against the wall, still holding her mouth.

"Ellie!" Natasha called out and ran towards her. The others followed while the crowd was still silent and watching Ellie. "What are you doing?"

Ellie gulped. "I'm –," she grunted in between gasps, " –sorry." She quickly pressed the elevator button, but then she vanished again. Only that time, she never reappeared anywhere in the room.

"Jarvis, locate the Poltergeist," Tony commanded.

After a couple of seconds, Jarvis responded. "Sir, I can't seem to locate her."

"Alright," Steve stepped into action, "Stark, Pepper –you two stay here in case she comes back. Banner, Thor –you check the first floor. Barton and Nat will take the second and I'll take the third. If any of you find her, report back to Jarvis," he instructed. Everyone nodded in agreement.

Before they dispersed, Pepper stepped forward. "What do we do about the guests?" she asked, "should I cut the party?"

Everybody looked at each other. They were all thinking the exact same thing, but nobody had the heart to tell her. She had put so much of her time and effort into the party.

"We'll handle the guests," Maria intervened with Nick Fury. "Just go find her."

With that, they got into their groups to find the missing Ellie. Clint and Natasha raked the second floor, going in each room to see if they could find her while Bruce and Thor raced down to the first floor. Pepper, Nick and Maria were trying their best to subtly explain to the guests what was going on and why the party had been cut short. Tony, on the other hand, was going through the security footage around the penthouse. There was no sign of her any where.

On the third floor, Steve searched his own room as well as Bruce's, by simply opening the door, looking around and moving on. He got to the last door, which was her bedroom and knocked. He didn't want to risk the chance of walking in on her if she was in her room.

"Ellie, you in there?" he called out, knocking. "Ellie? It's me, Steve."

At first, he didn't hear anything, but then her strained voice finally responded. "Don't – don't come in here, okay?" she yelled back. Her voice was raspy and thinned out. It sounded like she had a cold or had lost her voice.

He sighed, relieved to have finally found her. "It's just me. Are you okay? Where'd you go?" he asked her, moving closer to the door.

"I'm fine, Steve. Go away!"

He put his ear to the door and listened. He could hear her throwing up. "You don't sound fine," he insisted. She didn't reply. "Ellie, I'm coming in!"

Without hesitation, Steve opened the door. The first things he saw were her two blue high heels lying on the floor, then he saw her kneeling over the toilet in her bathroom. He rushed over and crouched beside her, carefully rubbing her back.

"I told you not to come in," she said, holding the bridge of her nose with her eyes closed. She took some deep breaths, the wiped her mouth and stood up, flushing the toilet and closing the lid. He ignored her and followed her to the sink, where she washed her hands and face. "Teleporting has never made me this sick before. I don't know what's going on."

Steve leaned against the doorframe and folded his arms. "You're alight now, though, right?" he asked, watching her reapply some of her makeup. She nodded. "Well I think we better check in with the others. They're looking for you."

"Nobody thought of checking my room, huh?" she smirked, reorganizing some of the hairpins that were holding her bun together.

"Are you planning on going back to the party?" he asked her, frowning, as soon as he realized that she was making herself look a little more presentable.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Yeah…I thought it was _my_ party?" she slurred, shaking her head.

"It is your party, but I don't think you're in any state to head back out. You need to lie down or something."

Sighing, she stumbled past him and retrieved her shoes. "I'm fine, really," she assured him. She sat down on the edge of her bed and put her shoes back on. Swiftly, he grabbed them out of her hands and stepped back.

"You're not fine. You can barely walk in a straight line," he snapped. "I'll tell them that you're too sick to go back, but you _need_ to rest."

She rolled her eyes and stood up. "Fine," she huffed.

"Where are you going?"

Ellie's eyes widened. "Jesus Christ, Steve!" she mumble to herself. "I'm just getting my pajamas!"

Steve gently put her shoes down and made his way to the door. Her head shot up. "Wait," she called out after him. He looked back. "This is a little weird, but could you help me unzip my dress? Pepper and Nat aren't exactly here right now and it's kind of really hard to unzip this piece of shit," she rambled on.

Steve raised his eyebrows. "Uh…okay…sure, I guess."

She trotted to him and turned around. Steve cautiously moved the chunks of black curls away from her neck before he felt around for the zipper. She moved her head to the side to make it easier for him to see.

"There's a button right on top," she warned him. He saw it and carefully unbuttoned it before making his way down to the zipper. His fingertips traced the metal line while his other hand pulled it down.

"Can you reach it now?" he asked against her neck. Her arm reached for her back to see if it was low enough for her to reach. Steve took her hand and guided her. "Right there? Is that alright?"

Her fingers grasped the small metal zip. "Yeah. Thanks."

"No problem."

Slowly, Ellie spun around to face him. "Can you do something else for me?" she asked him. Her voice was soft –almost a whisper. Her smile was replaced with a cheerless frown. Steve nodded. "Tell Pepper I'm really sorry for ruining this night, would you?"

"You didn't ruin it," he said, shaking his head. "Doom did. She knows that," he assured her. She nodded and looked down at the ground, unconvinced. Steve sighed. "Welcome to the team, Ellie," he congratulated her. A small smile played on his lips as he tilted his head, trying to get her to look at him.

She looked up and smiled. "Thank you."

"ELIZABETH?!" Clint's loud voice sang as he swung her door open. His eyes went from Ellie, to Steve and back to Ellie. "She's been here this whole time? Aw, c'mon!" he whined. "Jarvis, tell the others that I found her. She's in her room," he said, frowning. "Elizabeth has been in her bedroom all this time! I found her, not Steve!"

**"Your message has been sent, sir." **

"Good!" Clint huffed and left, leaving the door open. Down the hall, Ellie and Steve could hear him saying something to himself.

"Well," she sighed, putting her hands on her hips. "Goodnight."

Steve nodded once. "Goodnight."

When he left, she flopped back onto her bed and closed her eyes...

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**Chapter 5 done and dusted! What did you think? **

**Thanks for reading. Please review, follow and favorite. **

**xx**


	6. Chapter 6

_Do you wonder why you hate?_  
_Are you still too weak to survive your mistakes?  
\- Sweet Sacrifice by Evanescence _

* * *

**Hey guys! Here's an extremely long chapter 6...**

**There's a major Stellie scene in the next chapter. Stellie as in Steve and Ellie for all you slow kids in the back. **

**Don't forget; I'm always up for feedback, good or bad. If you have any tips or suggestions, please don't hesitate. **

**By the way, how are you finding Ellie? I hope she's not boring you to death. You'll find out more about her past in this chapter. **

**Anyway, I'll stop rambling. Nobody reads this anyway. **

**Enjoy (for those of you who are actually reading this) **

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**_The crying girl looked straight up into the camera and tilted her head. Her blurry brown eyes narrowed as she starred at it. A second later, she stood up; dressed in nothing but a white dress that ended just below her knees._**

**_"I know you're watching me," she whispered, "Please let me go. I'm sorry, okay?" she cried, moving closer and closer toward the camera."Where's my mother?" _**

The video skipped over some footage and stopped after a couple of months.

**_The girl's black hair had grown quickly. Her skin had nearly turned a snowy, sickly white. She sat with her back against the wall and her knees pulled up against her chest._**

**_"Do you want me to move something?" she asked, then effortlessly laughed at herself. She held out her hand and balled it into a fist before spreading out her fingers, creating an exploding sign with her hand. "BOOM!" she hissed, letting out another cackle. _**

Tony paused the video and zoomed in on her arm, or more precisely –her wrists, which had thin lines stripped across them. He hesitated for a while before counting the possibilities in his head.

"Thinking what I'm thinking?" Bruce asked, noticing Tony's change of expression. It went from thinking, then directly to a shocked and horrified look. He made a quick note of it before fast-forwarding to a few more months later.

**_"PLEASE LET ME OUT!" the girl screamed, holding her head and once again crying. _**

**_She began banging on the door, eventually trying to ram it down with her shoulder, but it was no use. She started sobbing uncontrollably as she sunk onto the ground and kicked her legs. _**

**_"LET ME GO!" she gasped frantically. "LET ME OUT OF THIS GODDAMN ROOM, FOR FUCK SAKE!" _**

Tony skipped one more month. The more he and Bruce watched, the more they started feeling sorry for her, especially Bruce, since he knew how it felt to be someone's lab rat. It was hard to believe that the Ellie they knew was the same Ellie, who was going insane, in the videos.

**_"Elizabeth Dixon, subject 2, please nod once if you can hear me," a man's voice said over the footage. The girl was seated at a small table in a small room. On the table were a few building blocks. The girl nodded once._**

**_"Elizabeth Dixon, subject 2, please move one of the blocks using your telekinesis."_**

**_She shook her head. "I –I can't. I don't know how. That's impossible," the girl responded. She was still dressed in the long white clinic gown. _**

**_The man's voice repeated itself. "Elizabeth Dixon, subject 2, please move one of the blocks using your telekinesis." _**

Tony skipped yet another month. The next month's footage was different, though. It wasn't from an observational camera; it was from a security one. The screen was split into four –two of the hallways, one of the front desk and one of around the entrance of the facility. He watched closely.

**_Somehow, the girl had managed to escape. She sprinted down the corridor, avoiding every person she passed. Doctors, nurses and security guards went after her and even managed to corner her at one stage. _**

**_"Elizabeth Dixon, do not resist," the doctor advised her. She wanted to run out the front door, but they were able to lock down the entire building as soon as they heard that she of all patients had escaped. She looked back through the glass door and saw many things; cars, people, the sky and most of all –freedom. A second later, one of the doctors dived in to capture her, but she disappeared without even realizing it. When she opened her eyes again, she was outside. Without even looking back with a hint of regret, she made a run for it. _**

"That was intense," Tony mumbled, taking down notes. "She teleported when she needed to the most. She could've easily escaped long before she did, but she couldn't."

Bruce nodded and jotted something down on his notepad. "I see. So whenever she's physically threatened, her powers suddenly 'turn on', if you will. That would explain how they worked against Doom last week. She's been training with Clint lately and he said that when he shot an arrow at her, it stopped in midair before hitting her. That's interesting," he went on.

"Right," Stark agreed, "so she didn't teleport on command that night with Doom?"

Banner shook his head. "Unless she's been secretly practicing in her room, I highly doubt it. But she got so sick. It's hard to make that assumption."

"So maybe if she concentrated enough, she'd be able to use her telekinesis whenever she felt like it," Tony said, "Jarvis, get Ellie down here, would you?"

"Certainly, sir."

…

**The Living Room**

"Well it's a good thing you have us. We are going to show you everything you missed," Ellie said, sitting down opposite Steve at the table. "We'll do music during the day and movies at night. Don't even try to get out of it."

He wiped his mouth and snorted, looking between her, Clint and Thor. He knew that it was too late to make excuses. She wouldn't rest until she got her way. "Alright. I have nothing else to do anyway," he agreed, getting up. Ellie trotted after him and jumped on top of the counter while he stuck his plate into the dishwasher. Clint and Thor followed.

"Great. Were you alive in the 50's?" Clint asked with a big smirk. Ellie concealed her laugh as much as she could.

Steve thought about it for a second and shook his head. "No. Well I was in a coma."

"The ice-block. Right," he huffed. Steve leaned against the opposite counter and folded his arms. He wanted to hear them out.

"So, I don't know much about the 50's, so we'll just watch Grease and listen to Elvis. For the 60's, we'll listen to the Bee Gees and Santana and watch something like –," Ellie began.

Clint interrupted. "You forgot the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. We could watch Night of the Living Dead," he suggested.

Ellie nodded in agreement. "Right, and Rosemary's Baby, shit that was freaky."

She took a deep breath before rambling on. "Oh my God, the 70's. We are so going to watch the Exorcist. I love that movie."

"You know I've never even watched that movie," Natasha intervened, entering the kitchen. She jumped on top of one of the other counters and joined the conversation.

Ellie's face dropped. "No fucking way," she whispered and shook her head in disappointment. A curl flopped out of her ponytail as she moved her head. "There is no way in hell that you haven't watched one of the greatest fucking horror movies ever made. Nat, that's really just plain laughable. It's sick. An outrage!"

Nat laughed and shrugged. "Being a part-time S.H.I.E.L.D and an Avenger really eats up one's time. I bet Clint hasn't watched it either," she said, looking at him and crossing her legs, "right?"

"Right."

"Well, then I say tonight we sit our asses down and watch the damn movie," Ellie stubbornly huffed. She crossed her arms and puckered her eyebrow. Nobody was getting out of it. Thor and Steve remained silent.

"Anyway, we could also see Jaws and Star Wars and the Godfather. We could listen to the Who and Black Sabbath," Clint continued.

Ellie quickly took over. "And for the 80's –oh shit…," she breathed, "That was my favorite decade. I don't even know what we're going to do for that one, honestly. We'll have to figure something out."

"So the Exorcist tonight?" Nat asked, just to confirm. She had always enjoyed horror movies –she wanted to see how far she could test herself.

Thor nodded, finally contributing to the conversation. "Would it be acceptable to invite Jane Foster?" he asked them. The last time he saw her was at the party.

"Yeah," Natasha shrugged, "It would be nice, I guess."

**_"Miss Dixon," _**Jarvis's robotic voice suddenly burst into the room. **_"Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner would like to see you alone in the lab now, please." _**

Everybody looked at her, expecting some kind of explanation or comment, but she seemed just as confused as they were. She hopped off the counter.

"Yeah?" she responded uneasily. It was like being called to the principal's office. She didn't know whether she should feel worried or not. "Sure. I'll be right down," she consented and turned back. "I'll tell them about tonight."

All of them nodded and mumbled something she couldn't quite make out. As she made her way to the elevator, she couldn't help but think about why Stark and Banner needed her so suddenly and so urgently. What had they been doing all that time in their lab? She re-styled her hair as she looked at herself in the mirrored wall of the elevator shaft.

"Don't be a coward," she whispered to herself. It was probably nothing anyway. When the lift reached the floor of the labs, she slowly strolled out. The lab was huge. It was an entire floor just dedicated to studying, experimenting and building Tony's Iron Man suits.

Banner and Stark were on the far side –close to a bunch of computers. They were talking to each other in a hushed voice –arguing about something apparently.

Ellie gulped and stepped closer, making her presence known. The last thing she wanted to do was get caught eavesdropping. "Hey," she greeted softly, looking around at the machinery. She looked at Butterfingers and smiled. "You made all of this, Stark?" she asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Yeah."

"That's so fucking awesome," she muttered under her breath and finally found herself at the computer, where Tony and Bruce were positioned. "Whatcha doing?" she questioned, standing on the tips of her toes to see past Tony. Her face immediately dropped when she saw what they had been watching. It was the footage. The footage Nick Fury swore to her would never get out to anybody. Anger piled up inside of her. She didn't even know who to be angry with. Tony and Bruce for sticking their noses into her business or Nick Fury, for handing the tapes over.

"Where the hell did you get this from?" she growled, her face twisting into a dark glare.

Bruce took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Ellie. Fury gave it to us. He asked Stark and me to analyze it," he tried to explain and tried his hardest to get her away from the computer.

She thinned her eyes. "Fury had no right to give it to you!" she yelled. Her anger increased rapidly as she stood there. "Is this what joining this team is about? Digging into each other's pasts?!"

"Ellie, calm down," Tony calmly advised her, "only the two of us have seen it and we're not planning on posting it on YouTube or anything. We needed it to see how your powers have developed over time," he told her, grabbing a chair for her to sit down.

She closed her eyes and shook her head. "When I joined S.H.I.E.L.D, they told me that nobody would ever see that or know about what happened," she said softly and opened her eyes. She took a sudden step toward Tony and frowned. "Swear to me that you won't tell anybody and I'll cooperate."

"Good news. We're not forcing you to do this. You can walk away right now if you want. We want to help you. You're part of this team now and that's the way it's going to be. But we are _not_ going to stick you in a cell and force you to do anything, alright?" Bruce responded, nodding his head once.

She broke eye contact and eventually nodded. "Okay. I'll do this, but on one condition –you never ever _ever_ bring those videos up. What you saw stays between the three of us."

Tony and Bruce exchanged looks.

"Agreed."

She held out her fist. A small, weak smile took over her frown. "Fist pump," she whispered and both men responded. Finally, she sat down. Tony and Bruce pulled two office chairs and sat opposite her.

"Alright. Have you ever actually moved an object on purpose?" Bruce began while Tony set up the camera.

She nodded uneasily. "Kind of. If it's really quiet and I concentrate hard I can. But that's a recent project."

"Go ahead and show us."

She looked around for something small and relatively light. There was an old Arc Reactor on the table nearby and she decided to move that. She closed her eyes and took some deep breaths. Bruce and Stark went silent as they watched her every move. She blocked the two of them out, pretending they weren't scrutinizing her.

_Focus Ellie. You can fucking do it. _

_Alright. _

_Here I go. _

She inhaled a hefty amount of air and as she exhaled, she imagined the thing move inside her head. In reality, it didn't even flinch. She narrowed her eyes and thought hard, more intent on moving the damn thing. Nothing. She closed her eyes.

_You can do it. You've done it before. Just move the fucking thing. _

She took another breath and opened her eyes. Her body leaned in. Her head ached, but she was determined to show them that she could do it. Tony and Bruce both jotted more things down, without her even noticing. She slit her eyes again and her breathing slowed down.

The arc-reactor finally moved.

Her eyes guided it to move further up, toward the ceiling. Banner and Stark both held their breath to see how long she could hold it for. It wobbled slightly, but was still within her control. The longer she held it with her mind, the less she concentrated. Eventually, it dropped and hit the table again. Pepper had entered the room, chattering away on the phone. She looked at Stark and raised her eyebrows, obviously annoyed at something he had done or was doing.

"Oh God," he sighed, knowing that she'd probably want to talk to him about something, "duty calls. Ellie, that was good. We'll pick it up again tomorrow. Bruce, d'you mind finishing up here and concealing those videos? Thanks."

He jogged all the way to Pepper, who was right on the other side of the lab. She got off the phone and started reprimanding him in a hushed tone. Ellie watched them from a distance and tried to hear what they were saying.

"That was remarkable, Ellie," Bruce said, distracting her as he worked on the computer.

She half-smiled. "Thanks."

"Can we pick this up tomorrow, say …at the same time?"

"Yeah. Sure," she nodded and stood up.

"We're done. You probably have better things to do than hanging around down here," he joked, chuckling at himself. Ellie's laugh came out as a snort. She turned around to leave, but then remembered to tell him about that night and what they had planned.

She bit her lip. "We're watching the Exorcist tonight. Me and the others. Could you tell Tony and Pepper? And of course, you're most welcome to come."

He nodded. "Yeah sure. Sounds fun. See you tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Alright."

"See you then..."

…

"This isn't even scary!" Clint complained before feeling an elbow jam into his ribs. He looked to the side, to see Nat frowning and holding her fingers to her lips. He sighed and looked back at the TV. They were finally watching the Exorcist. It turned out that Jane was in town and available. She and Thor took up one half of the couch. She was sitting right next to him, with a packet of lightly salted crisps in her hands. Over few minutes, Thor would grab a messy fistful and thrust it into his mouth.

They were about a half hour into the movie; Bruce barged into the living room, looking for something in the kitchen. Tony paused the movie as they all watched and tried to hear what he was saying over the phone.

"Betty... Betty where are you now?...Alright, I'll be right there…Just stay where you are."

He hung up the phone and grabbed his car keys from the kitchen counter.

"Bruce?" Nat asked, pausing the movie, "you alright?"

He shook his head without taking his eyes away from his phone. "No, I, uh, my, uh, I'll be right back," he stuttered and stormed to the lift. The doors closed before any of them could find something worth saying to make him feel a bit more at ease with whatever was happening. They all looked at each other.

"Ooh –kaay," Clint broke the silence. "What's up with him?"

Natasha sighed. "It's none of our business. Especially yours. Let's just watch the movie and when he comes back, we'll talk to him," she said, laying down and resting her head on Clint's lap. Everybody seemed to agree with that and Tony instructed Jarvis to play the movie.

"Move up," Pepper whispered to Tony as she down next to him with a bowl of popcorn. He put his arm on the back of the couch, inviting her to move closer. She rested her head on his shoulder as he grabbed a handful of popcorn and shoved it in his mouth.

Ellie sat next to Steve, wrapped within her fluffy grey blanket, while he sat up straight with his legs crossed. There was a half-full small bowl of gummy-bears between them. Ellie had already eaten all the yellow and red ones, while Steve had the purple and green. All that was left were the orange ones. The movie had just about the halfway point and everybody was still wide awake, watching closely. Every few minutes, Thor would ask Jane what they were talking about and she'd have to whisper a quick explanation.

Bruce was still missing in action. He didn't call or anything either.

By the time the movie ended, Tony suggested that they watch another, since no one was tired enough to go to bed. They all agreed to watch the original 'Carrie' movie, but about forty minutes into the movie, everybody had fallen asleep...


	7. Chapter 7

_She's got a smile it seems to me_  
_Reminds me of childhood memories_  
_Where everything_  
_Was as fresh as the bright blue sky_  
_Now and then when I see her face_  
_She takes me away to that special place_  
_And if I'd stare too long_  
_I'd probably break down and cry_

-Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns 'N Roses 

* * *

Slowly, Ellie started opening her eyes. The first thing she saw was the living room's ceiling, followed by clear memories of what happened the night before. A small smile crawled on her face as she turned her head and studied the cluttered living room. There were blankets all over the floor and an empty bowl of popcorn was on the coffee table. From what she could see, nobody else was around and her smile faded. Why didn't anybody wake her up?

She lifted her head and her pillow suddenly moved. Instinctively, her hand immediately felt around for the cause of movement, only for her fingertips to be greeted by a soft, cotton t-shirt covering a hard, flat surface.

_"What the fuck?!" _

Steve was asleep beside her –_underneath her._ How did she miss that? How did she not feel or even hear him breathing? He was the first one, out of the two of them to fall asleep. From what she could recall, she fell asleep far away from him. Ellie sat up quickly and tried to piece together what was going on. By the looks of it, Steve had fallen asleep while slouching and she had somehow, magically moved from one side of the couch, all the way to resting her head on his stomach.

It was strange seeing him sleep; he looked so content and peaceful. The longer she stared at him, the hotter her face went. Her ears heated up within seconds. She tried moving his arm from and after putting in a little effort, managed to successfully lift it, allowing her to get up.

Just when she sat up, she felt him move next to her. _He had woken up_. His eyebrows were creased and his eyes were still trying to adjust to the sunlight. "What?" his voice groggily said then saw Ellie.

"Err…what are you doing?" he asked her, slowly sitting up.

She blinked. "Um…I, ah…we –you…," she blurted at the same time, then shook her head, completely lost for words. "I'm lost," she sighed, feeling her face heat up again.

"Where is everyone?" he asked her, trying to change the subject. She shrugged. "Did we all just fall asleep here?"

She nodded slowly, taking her bottom lip with her teeth nervously. He rubbed his eyes and scratched the back of his blond head. _Did he realize what had just happened? Was he disgusted that he fell into such an awkward situation with her of all people? _She looked away. Something inside her told her to get the hell out of there before any more questions were asked.

"Listen," Steve sighed, drawing her attention, "I'm sorry if I made you feel a little uncomfortable. I didn't mean to…," he said, leaving his sentence to drift off. _He knew what happened, alright. He was the one who woke up in the middle of the night and saw her about a second away from falling off the couch._

Ellie released her lip and couldn't help but smile just a little. _He actually apologized_. She shook her head with a short snort. "I wasn't uncomfortable. Just a little taken aback. Besides, it's not like you're some creepy pervert," she said, feeling a bit more at ease. Something of a grin took on Steve's face, too.

They stayed like that for a moment –eyes locked. It was blue against brown; both lips sliding further up into smiles before sharing a ridiculous laugh. She was relieved he didn't make too much of a deal about it and he was thankful that she didn't take his gesture the wrong way. The heavy, awkward atmosphere had disappeared and had been replaced with a warm sensation.

What broke the gaze between them, were two people entering the living room; one of which they had never seen before. It was Bruce with a mysterious brunette woman, laughing about something. Steve and Ellie both watched them intently, focusing on her and trying to piece together some kind of reason.

"Good morning, sunshine," Ellie called out after a few moments of being completely invisible. Bruce's head shot up and finally saw her and Steve sitting on the couch. The woman looked at Bruce, waiting for some kind of green light. He cleared his throat and brought her over to them.

"Betty, this is Ellie and Steve," he introduced them, "Steve and Ellie, this is Betty. She's an old friend of mine."

Just like when Ellie first met them, Steve respectfully stood up and straightened his clothes to make himself somewhat more presentable. He held out his hand and nodded his head once. "It's nice to meet you, Ma'am," he greeted her. Betty smiled and shook his hand. "I'm sorry about the mess."

"It's not a problem. This is _your _home after all. It's an honor to finally meet you, Captain."

Next up was Ellie, who followed Steve by standing up and holding out her hand. "Hi. I'm Ellie. It's nice to meet you."

Betty shook her hand. "Miss Telekinesis, huh?" she teased, glancing at Bruce. Ellie forced a stifled laugh, but not because of the name, but because of the irony. Sure, she had telekinesis, if you could even call it that. But what was the point if she couldn't even control it?

"Betty over here will be staying with us for a short while," Bruce explained, "so be nice."

"Of course. Just make it to breakfast before Thor and Clint because those guys basically suck everything up," Ellie joked, glancing at Steve, who had started folding up blankets and neatly piling them up. Suddenly, the elevator opened up and Tony, Pepper and Clint all came rushing out, all in costume. That was the first time Ellie has seen them in their suits up closely, so her face lit up as if she was a child in a candy store. Tony and Pepper were the only ones dressed in their usual clothes.

"What's all this?" she asked, going over to them to get a better look.

Tony ignored her and turned to Steve, who was still folding up blankets. "No time for that, Cap. We got Doc Ock running around the streets and Spider-Man's nowhere to be seen. C'mon, suit up," he said, clapping his hands, then turned to Ellie, "same applies to you. Your suit's in your room. Go get it and meet us out on the terrace. Go on. Hurry it up!"

Steve dropped what he was doing and made his way to the lift. Ellie eventually followed him, after staring at Tony in bewilderment for a few seconds when he said the word 'costume'. Just as said, Ellie found a suit in her room. She hesitated, but put it on anyway. Evidently, Tony had done an excellent job designing her suit. It consisted of a pair of black leather pants, which had laces going up the side of each leg with a tight navy-blue spandex t-shirt. Her black boots were wedge-heeled and black with a sheathed knife on the side. The heels were somehow designed to contract as soon as she started running. On her hands, she wore fingerless leather gloves with padding around the knuckles.

As she made her way back to the lift, she put her hair up into a thick braid and met Nat on the way up.

"How do you like your costume?" Nat asked her, studying it.

Ellie shrugged. "I like it. It's actually very comfortable," she admitted, looking at herself in the mirror. "Who designed it again?"

"Tony, believe it or not," Natasha answered, adjusting her own costume. Ellie looked at herself one more time in the elevator mirror. She could hardly believe that she was an actual superhero –the kind she read about in comics. She even had a kick-ass costume and everything. The two met the rest of the team out on the balcony, where their jet was supposed to meet them. Hawkeye and Iron Man were already waiting outside the jet. Betty stayed with Pepper, and the two women bonded by swapping war stories.

"Wow, I'd say I did a good job," Tony said, looking at how she looked.

She nodded. "I'd actually have to agree. So, what's our mission again?"

"Doc Ock is crawling around again," Clint sighed, inspecting his arrows. "Man, I hate that guy."

"He's the guy with four mechanical legs, right?" Ellie asked everyone as Tony opened up the jet.

An answer came from behind. "Yes," Steve answered, with Bruce and Thor following. They were all in costume, except Bruce, for obvious reasons. Nat and Clint immediately made their way towards the cockpit of the jet while Ellie, Bruce, Thor and Steve found and strapped themselves into seats. Tony chose to fly beside them.

"Alright, he was spotted on the corner of Third and Fourth Street, Manhattan. He could have a hostage, so be on the lookout," Steve commanded everybody. "Nat, you stay in the air with Thor and Stark. Me, Barton and Ellie will take the ground and Bruce –you know what to do."

Everybody nodded. Ellie stared out the window, watching the tops of the skyscrapers pass them by. This was it, she thought. Her first mission as an Avenger. Something at the back of her mind kept on telling her that she's screw everything up, but something else assured her that she's be fine. She prayed that all the S.H.I.E.L.D training she had spent hours and hours on would suffice, otherwise she'd might as well say goodbye.

"You alright?" she heard somebody ask her. She turned her head to see Bruce smiling at her.

She nodded her head. "Yeah. I think so. I'm just a little…"

"_Nervous?" _Steve intervened, giving her and reassuring smile. "You'll be fine. Besides, I don't think Fury would've chosen you if you weren't good enough. Plus, you're not exactly going to be alone."

"You're right," Ellie sighed. "I just hope I'm the one for the job."

All of a sudden, the entire back of the jet opened up. Thor shot up and swung his hammer around and around before being whisked away by the wind.

"ALRIGHT, WE'RE HERE!" Nat yelled over the howling wind, "I SEE HIM. TRY TO GET HIM ON THE GROUND!"

The jet lowered and once it was close enough to the ground, Steve and Clint jumped out and stepped right into the line of fire. Bruce looked at Ellie and gestured for her to go first, and she did. Eventually all four were on the ground and Thor, Nat and Tony were in the sky.

When Ellie landed, she was forced to quickly jump out of the way to avoid being hit by a flying car that Doc Ock had thrown at her. She looked up and finally saw him standing a few feet away. If her team's lives, as well as hers weren't on the line, she might've laughed at his ridiculous look. He had an old-fashioned mushroom-cut hairstyle and on his face, there was a large pair of goggles.

"Where's the beloved Spider?" the villain roared, laughing at himself, "is he too scared to take me on?!"

He was knocked back suddenly by Captain America's shield. His grin was replaced with a bitter glare as he started running towards Steve. Hawkeye, who had positioned himself on top of a bus, started unloading some of his most dangerous arrows. He lived up to his 'expert marksman' title when he didn't miss a single shot. Ellie shook herself out of her daydreaming. There was no time to dawdle; people's lives were at stake. She began her sprint toward the Doctor and unsheathed her knives.

"HEY DICKFACE!" she shouted behind him. He stopped and turned around. "IT'S NICE TO FINALLY MEET YOU!"

She quickened her pace and once she got a little closer, she aimed and threw one of her knives at once of his four mechanical arms. It definitely did some damage. She saw this when the leg gave in for a moment and started to glitch.

"Get the legs, guys. It's his weakness. Just watch out for the claws," Ellie told the rest of the team. Shortly after that, Natasha stared firing the jet's machine gun at his legs while Thor took some shots with his hammer. Ellie turned around to look for Bruce and when she spotted him, he wasn't looking at anybody; he was watching his hands as they turned green.

"Bruce?" she breathed as she watched his skin go green. He turned to glance at her and for a second, she could still see the Bruce Banner she knew. His eyes suddenly changed to a bright green color, and then she knew what she was up against. She watched for the first couple of moments as he transformed into the huge, infamous green monster she had read about. For the first time in a long time, Ellie was genuinely afraid. She could feel her heart racing within her chest as she gradually backed away, eventually breaking into a sprint to get away from the Hulk.

The big monster came running towards her and she jumped out of the way, purely out of fear. She watched as he simply pushed himself off the ground and landed on one of the arms, trying to rip it apart.

"HULK SMASH!" Bruce howled and managed to snap of the mechanical legs in half. "HULK HELP! HULK GOOD!"

Ellie was forced to step back into action. She stopped watching the Hulk and sprinted towards one of the four mechanical giant legs. She managed to retrieve her knives and re-sheathed. Steve's shield smoothly slid through the air and hit Doc Ock harder than the last time.

"Alright you ugly bastard," Tony said to himself, holding out his two hands. "Eat this." Two blue beams shot out of the palms of his hand and hit one of the legs until it gave in.

Ellie closed her eyes, trying to concentrate. Maybe she could use her telekinesis. Maybe if she tried hard enough, it would work. She closed her mind from the rest of the world and from her surroundings. She could only hear faint sounds, such as herself breathing and Iron Man's beams being shot. Time moved at a slower pace as she stood there.

"ELLIE!"

She ignored it.

"ELLIE WATCH OUT!"

She opened her eyes and another car was a few feet away from crushing her body. It stopped in midair. For a few seconds, the entire team stopped and watched. She stared at it intensely. _It was working._ She nodded her head once and the whole car flew back, hitting Doc Ock fiercely. His body had collapsed underneath the weight of the car and everybody waited to see whether he was still moving or not. After a minute or so, the car moved to the side as he lifted himself up and prepared himself to continue the battle. Natasha began shooting again and Iron Man thought of a new plan.

"I'll distract the assclown. Poltergeist, Hawkeye, Widow and Hulk, take out his legs. Cap, you and Thor take his body."

"Roger that," Steve responded and started running towards Doc Ock.

Clint sighed. "I hope Spider-Ass pays us back for this one. This douche bag belongs to him," he complained, talking out three arrows.

The Hulk let out another snarl before jumping at one of the mechanical legs again. He pulled and ripped until half of the leg finally fell off. Thor grasped the lighting with the power of Mjölnir and sent thousands of volts through the villain's body, as well as his arms.

Doc Ock's body violently jolted as electricity ran through his system. Clint took one more shot and hit him with an explosive arrow. The Hulk stopped smashing and stepped back, roaring aggressively as he watched Doc Ock grow weaker and weaker. When the electricity flow ended, his body fell to the ground.

"Alright," Clint cheered, as everybody made their way towards the motionless body, "not bad, I'd say. What did you think, newbie?"

Ellie tilted her head and gently kicked one of Doc Ock's legs to see if it would move.

"Jury's still out," she sighed and folded her arms, "but it sure beats being stuck in a cage."

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**So? What did you think? Team Stellie or nah? **

**Review, Fav and Follow for more :D **


	8. Chapter 8

_Oh the things that you say_  
_Is it live or_  
_Just to play my worries away_  
_You're all the things I've got to remember_  
_You're shying away_  
_I'll be coming for you anyway_

_-Take On Me by A-Ha_

* * *

**Hey guys! Thanks for the really awesome reviews!**

**Just a couple of crucial things though. Firstly, so far I've seen Age Of Ultron twice and all I can say is holy shit. My second point is that a few things are going to change, since this story takes place a few months before Age of Ultron. You'll see what I mean when you watch it.**

**Third point: the magic lyrics at the beginning of each chapter. It's really just what helped inspire me to write the chapter and ultimately, this story. I listen to music when I write, so I've decided to make a little playlist thing. You don't have to listen to the songs, but you'd be doing yourself a favor if you did anyway. Most of the songs are rock, hard rock, sometimes light metal and old school music (like the 70's, 80's, 90's etc). **

**Anyway, that's all for now.**

**Oh wait, just one question for you guys: who do you guys see as Ellie? As in actresses. Like when you read my story, who comes to mind when you think about her, or how does she look in your mind? I'd really love to know. **

**Alright, that's it. Enjoy. Short chapter by the way. **

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"Where is everybody?" Ellie asked herself, lazily dragging her fingers on the kitchen counter. Her voice echoed for once –only because it was the first time she had ever been alone in the Avengers Tower. "Jarvis," her morning voice croaked, "where is everybody?"

**_"All out, ma'am. Mr. Stark left a message for you. Would you like to view it?" _**

She put her mouth over her shoulder as she yawned while making herself a cup of coffee. "Yeah. Sure. Whatever."

"**_Ellie, _**

**_Bruce, Betty, Pepper and I are at a convention in Boston. Nat and Clint are on duty and Thor went back down to New Mexico with Jane. Don't eat all the food. Enjoy your day off._**

**_Much love, _**

**_Your rich and incredibly sexy friend, Tony Stark" _**

Ellie rolled her eyes, but laughed slightly anyway, then something on the counter caught her eye. She leaned over, trying to get a better look at the newspaper's front page. 'New Avenger in Town', was the caption, along with a small article and a picture to match. Her eyes quickly skimmed through the article, trying to find any hate speech or insults.

"…_She could be a mutant," _she read aloud and snorted before taking a sip of her coffee, "yeah right…_can apparently control things with her mind…_ We'll see."

In front of her, without even knowing, a sleepy Steve slowly shuffled through the living room, looking for somebody; anybody. He spotted Ellie leaning over the counter, sipping her coffee and reading the 'Daily Bugle'. Without any other options, he moved towards her, but she was too wrapped inside the article to even hear his soft footsteps.

"Good morning," he said a little too quickly. Her body jerked, but thankfully she didn't spill any coffee.

She put her coffee down with her hand over her heart. "Jesus Christ!" she gasped and looked at him. "Oh. It's only you."

"Whatcha reading?" he asked, moving closer to get a look of the front page. She slid it across the table for him before picking up her cup of coffee again. She watched him as he scanned the article, looked at the picture and snorted before setting it back on the table. "Where is everybody?"

**_"Sir, Mr. Stark has a message for you. Would you like to open it?"_**

"Fire away."

**_"Capsicle,_**

**_Pepper, myself, Banner and Miss Betty Ross are all in Boston. We're not yet sure exactly when we'll be back. Thor is in New Mexico and Barton and the spy are out kicking ass somewhere. You and Ellie have the tower to yourselves, just please no sex on the – 'TONY!' –I was kidding. Jeez, Pepper. Anyway, do whatever you want and if aliens fall out of the sky, you'll know what to do. _**

**_Kindest regards, Tony Stark. _**

**_PS, I really was kidding about the screwing around." _**

Steve scrunched up his face in confusion and didn't even want to look at Ellie, who had already given herself the biggest facepalm yet. There was a couple moments' worth of an awkward pause, in which neither of them said anything or even looked at each other. Sooner or later, though, somebody had to break the ice.

Ellie turned around and dragged herself to the fridge to see what there was to have for breakfast. Much to her delight, there was still a half-full box of pizza leftovers from the night before. Her initial assumption before opening the box was that either Clint or Thor had already finished everything, but thankfully, it looked completely untouched.

"Have you ever had pizza for breakfast?" she asked Steve, who took the chance to sit down at the mini bar in the kitchen.

He shook his head. "It's not exactly what I'd call breakfast."

"Well I'm not making bacon and eggs, so it's either pizza or nothing, Cap."

"Pizza it is, then."

She smiled and stuck it in the oven for a few minutes. Whilst they waited, she drummed her fingers on the kitchen counter. "So, what are you doing today?" she asked him.

He shrugged. "Nothing planned. What do you want to do?"

"We could just hang out," she suggested. "Chill around here. Unless, you wanna go out, in which case, _you're_ paying."

Steve chuckled and nodded his head. "I honestly wouldn't mind. Either one's fine with me."

"Really? Are you serious?" she asked him, nose creased. He shrugged again. She bit her lip. "Alright. We can go out. But, uh, I won't make you pay for everything. You're buying lunch though."

"Fair enough. Where'd you wanna go?"

Ellie thought long and hard before making her final decision. She knew that the last place Steve would want to go to was the mall. Besides, nothing really interested her there. Her face lit up as she remembered something she'd read somewhere a couple of days before.

"There's this carnival in Central Park. Y'know, like rides and carnival food? I haven't been to one of those since I was a little girl," she suggested. Steve hesitated, but agreed anyway. He could tell by how excited she suddenly looked, that turning it down would disappoint her. Plus, he hadn't been to a carnival in a long time either. He remembered how much he used to enjoy going with his mom and Bucky. They always had a good time.

So, it was settled. After breakfast, they got dressed and left. Ellie put on a pair of light blue boyfriend jeans with her black Doc Martens. The t-shirt she decided to wear was plain grey with a dark blue, green and black plaid shirt tied loosely around her waist. In comparison, Steve threw on a pair of dark blue jeans with a plain white t-shirt and a grey jacket. They met downstairs in the parking garage, where Ellie had taken it upon herself to call Tony and ask him to borrow one of his cars.

"We could take my bike," Steve insisted. She hung up before Stark picked up the phone.

"Really? Can I drive then?" she asked, teasingly as he jumped onto his Harley.

At first, he was slightly skeptical. Not because he was afraid of her wrecking his motorcycle, but because he wasn't sure whether she actually knew how to ride it or not. "Uh, I don't know, Ellie. Can you eve –"

"I was kidding, Cap," she laughed as she climbed on behind him. "You know, I actually know how to ride one of these things. Back when I was like thirteen, I got my very first one."

"Isn't that illegal?"

She laughed again, only this time a little harder. "Jesus, Steve. Is that all you got out of my story? Anyway, what the hell am I supposed to hold onto? I've never actually been a passenger."

Steve revved the bike and put one of his feet up while the other pushed the motorcycle further out, until it was out of the garage. "Hold onto me," he instructed. Ellie immediately looped her arms around him. Once he was certain she was completely on, he started up the engine and took off.

As the two of them drove through the streets of Manhattan, her grip slowly got looser and looser, until her arms were actually just resting around him. She had even rested her head against his back. Meanwhile, Steve started to enjoy her presence. At first, when she put her arms around him, it felt a little uncomfortable, but when he felt her rest her head, everything changed. Every now and then, he glanced at her via the side mirror and caught a glimpse of her watching everything they passed with the smallest smile on her face.

Whenever they stopped at a streetlight, she lifted her head and tried to peek over his shoulder to see how far away from the park they were. He was too tall for her, though, so she just settled back down and pressed the side her face against his jacket.

When they got there, Steve found a spot to park his bike. They got off and made their way to carnival. As they closed in on it, the familiar aroma of cotton candy, corn dogs and every other possible deep-fired food there was, got clearer and clearer. Children leaving the carnival with their parents had their faces painted in different styles. Only once they passed, did it become obvious to Steve that one of the children had a Captain America mask painted on his face.

Ellie had noticed it too, apparently. She smiled at the boy as he walked past, then looked at Steve with an impressed face.

"Kid doesn't have bad taste, huh?" she joked. Steve snorted. "C'mon, tough guy, let's go get tickets for the rides."

Before he had an opportunity to say another word, she hooked her hand around his arm and pulled him towards the ticket booth.

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**Very short, I know, but you can expect more Stellie scenes in the next chapter. Don't forget to review, favorite and follow for more Stellie stuff ;)**


	9. Chapter 9

_And up until now_  
_I had sworn to myself that I'm content_  
_With loneliness_

_Because none of it was ever worth the risk_

_But, you are, the only exception_

_-The Only Exception by Paramore_

__"What's that?"_  
_

"What's what?"

"That little cubicle over there."

"The photo booth?"

Steve narrowed his eyes. "Photo booth? What does it do?"

"It takes photos of you and your friends. Wanna see?" Ellie asked. He nodded. Luckily, nobody was inside. Ellie slid inside and pulled Steve in after her, before closing the curtain.

**_"Hello there. Welcome to the Photo Booth, where memories become reality. Please choose a theme._"**

"Alright…what do you want? _Romantic_?" she asked mockingly and pulled a pouting face. Steve laughed. "Funny? Patriotic? Or no theme at all?"

He thought about each option as he looked at the examples on the screen. "Uh, what about no themes? All of them look pretty tacky."

"Are you sure you don't want the patriotic one?" she teased. He playfully nudged her arm as he pressed the last one. She sat up straight with a big smile on her face. "Alright, look up at the camera and smile. I think we get four pictures, so let's have a different face for each, okay?"

He nodded. "Okay," he agreed and looked around for the camera.

**_"Get ready. One –" _**

"Ellie, where's the camera?"

**_"Two –"_**

"Huh? Oh it's up th –"

**_"Three! Say cheese!" _**

Steve's eyes paced around frantically, searching for the camera while Ellie smiled away. Each picture took about five seconds to take before moving on to the next one.

"Uh, camera, Ellie?!" he panicked, but she couldn't help but laugh. She pointed at it, but he still couldn't see it. The more he looked for it, the harder she laughed and soon, he joined in. "I still can't see it," he snickered, gasping as his laugh got thicker and thicker.

He wasn't really sure why he was laughing so much, or why she was either, but at that moment, with both of them laughing and just having a good time, nothing else mattered. By the time they calmed down, all four photos had been taken and a few people were queuing outside. They got out and Steve caught the picture after it printed.

The first one was of Ellie smiling at the camera, while he confusedly looked in another direction. Ellie already called it as her favorite as soon as she saw it. The second one was of her laughing, while his mouth was open wide. It looked like he was complaining about something or giving her a lecture. The third one was of both of them laughing, looking at the camera without even knowing it. And finally, the fourth one was of them looking at each other, still laughing. He was looking at her, while she faced him with her eyes closed.

"That was interesting," he smirked, still looking at the row of pictures.

Ellie bit her lip. "Which one's your favorite?"

"Definitely not the first half. I look ridiculous. I'd say either the third or the fourth," he said, handing the photos to her for her to see. After looking at them, she tore the slip in half, separating the first couple from the third and fourth.

Handing him the last two, she giggled at her half before putting it in her pocket. "Well I'm keeping these pictures forever because of how ridiculous you look. It's gold."

Steve shook his head as he looked at his half again. He studied himself for a few seconds. Was that really him? Was he really _that_ happy? He hadn't felt or even seen himself like that in years –nearly seventy. The last time he laughed like that was with Bucky. He never thought he'd ever see himself like that ever again.

His eyes turned to Ellie on the photo. She looked just as happy as he did. He thought about if she hadn't ever joined the Avengers. Would he have been the same in that case? Would he have been just as happy? Nobody else in the team would've dragged him off to some childish carnival. Hell, he wouldn't have even dragged himself. Had she never joined, he'd have been sitting at home by himself, drowning in his self-pity.

"Everything alright?" she asked him, stepping closer to him and interrupting his trace of thought. Steve tore his eyes from the picture and looked at her. The wind blew her black, wavy hair over her face and covered her mouth. Unconsciously, he lifted his hand to her face and gently tucked the strand behind her ear. The sun, which sat directly over her, transformed her dark eyes into a light, caramel shade of brown.

He shook his head. "Yeah, no, uh…everything's fine," he assured her, quickly taking his hand away and taking a step back to create some distance between them. He took out his wallet and carefully put the photo inside, to ensure that he wouldn't lose it. "Hey, did you still want to grab lunch? What do you want to eat?"

"Well right now I'd kill for some nachos."

"Alright. Where can we get nachos from?" he asked, looking around. Ellie joined him as he searched for a food stall somewhere around them. Her bottom lip was taken by her teeth as she narrowed her eyes. In the distance, there was a bright orange and yellow-striped canopy sheltering a small shop with a line of a handful of people. Around it, there were wooden tables and chairs.

"Over there. That looks like a food stall. Let's go check it out," she told him and began to walk. Steve followed her with his hands stuffed into his pockets. By the time they reached the shop, a couple more people had added onto the line. Steve and Ellie waited in patient silence for their turn. Both took the time to scope out their surroundings. Children carrying teddy bears of all shapes and sizes ran around playfully, with their parents trying their best to apprehend them.

At one point, a clown dressed in a large, colorful suit waddled by. His eyes met Ellie's and not even a second after that, she quickly looked away and cautiously stepped closer to Steve –so close that she slightly knocked into him.

"What's the matter?" he asked, tilting his head a bit.

She shook her head and glanced back at the clown, who had stopped to stare and wave at her. Steve turned around and spotted the colorful guy, who at this point, was starting to come their way.

"Get lost," Ellie snarled at him, before he could say or even do anything. The clown attempted to show her some kind of magic trick, but she refused to look at it whatsoever. She even turned her back on him and folded her arms. The clown tried to tap her on the shoulder, but she caught his gloved hand and pushed him back as hard as she could. "Leave me alone for fuck's sake. Can't you see that I don't give a shit?!"

The clown quickly spun around and went out of her sight.

"What was that?" Steve questioned her, folding his arms.

"What was what?"

"It was just a stupid clown. Why'd you go all '_agent_' on him?"

Ellie sighed. "I really hate clowns."

"Well you sure picked a hell of a place to come today," he retorted, a small smirk on his lips.

She shook her head as they moved to the front of the line. "Yeah, well I haven't seen a clown since I was ten. You'd think I would've grown out of that by now," she explained, leaning over the counter. She turned to the old man behind the counter. "Hey, can I please have some nachos?" she ordered, then nudged Steve for his order.

"I'll have what the lady has."

Ellie jokingly rolled her eyes. "Two sets of nachos please and two Oreo milkshakes."

The old man yelled her order to the cooks at the back before adding it up and telling her their final price. Steve paid and when they got their food, they found a small table. They both dug right in and ate like they had never eaten before. After lunch, they walked around, stopping at a few games along the way.

One particular game they enjoyed was a game that included a line of glass bottles on one side. Someone had to hit all of them down in order to win the grand prize, which in that case, was a Captain America action figure. Steve got all bottles down during his first try. The scorekeeper was so shocked, that he stood there for a couple of moments with his jaw hanging wide open.

"I believe you own us a Captain America Premium action-figure," Ellie piped in, leaning over the counter. The man reluctantly bent over, and grabbed the sealed, pristine box that contained a limited edition action figure of Captain America himself. He handed it to Steve, who looked at it for a second, before just handing it over to Ellie, who ripped the box open.

"Aww," she cooed and moved the doll's arms, "I have my own little Steve Rogers now."

Steve puckered his eyebrow and shook his head with a very amused look on his face. The pair continued walking; only stopping at the 'interesting-looking' stores, as she put it. After a while, seeing the same stalls and walking around in circles became boring.

"Can I show you something?" she asked him, stopping. He stopped and looked back at her, taking another lick of his chocolate-flavored ice-cream.

"What?"

She bit her lip, smiling and grabbed his hand as she maneuvered her way through the stacks of crowds. She took him to a less crowded area and the further out they went, the less and less people there were.

"Where are we going?" he asked her, trying his best to keep up with her fast walking.

She carried on going. "You'll see."

He left it at that and decided to rather see where they ended up. She led him to one of the biggest rides and instead of going on it, she started climbing up the fire escape's ladder, which led right to the top. As she began to climb, Steve worriedly looked around to see whether anyone was looking or not.

"Are you sure we're allowed to do this?" he asked her in a hushed tone, trying not to draw any unwanted attention.

She paused and looked down, laughing at him. "Relax, Capsicle. I used to do this all the time without getting caught. The trick is to not make it look obvious," she scoffed and cocked a brow at him standing there, still looking around. "Well if you're going to stand there, looking suspicious, what do you expect? Get your butt up before someone sees. Trust me, it'll be worth it."

He sighed, and eventually started climbing reluctantly. They got up rather quickly and before he knew it, they were right on top. There was a long platform on top, that couldn't be seen from the ground. Ellie plopped herself down with her feet swinging over the edge, overlooking not only the entire carnival; but half of Central Park, as well as the front of Midtown Manhattan. At the back of the picture-perfect setting, stood the tallest building in the whole of New York; the Avengers Tower.

"This is amazing," Steve huffed as he sat down beside Ellie. She put her arms on the lowest pole of the railing and rested her head.

"I used to come up here when I was younger. Whenever I got lost, or separated from my mom, I'd come up here and just wait it out. She always knew that if she couldn't find me, I'd be up here," she told him, gawking at the city and enjoying the light breeze that was brushing against her face.

Steve looked at her for a while. There was a faint smile on her lips as she dreamily looked ahead. It took her a couple of moments to feel his gaze burning the side of her face, and when she looked at him, he quickly looked away.

"The last time I was at a carnival, I was about seventeen. My best fri -," he stopped and took a deep breath before he could continue.

She frowned and lifted her head. "Hey. You alright?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. It's just…I used to go to places like this with my best friend, Bucky."

"James Barnes?" He quickly turned to her, narrowing his eyes as to how she knew. She shrugged. "I've seen the exhibition at the museum and we had files on him at S.H.I.E.L.D," she explained as if she had read his mind. "I'm –I'm so sorry, Steve. About him. I can't imagine how that must feel."

Steve nodded once, accepting her condolence. Both turned back to the view and watched in silence as the wind-rustled trees blew around them and children's playful screams came from below. After a while, they got bored, but neither of them really knew how to restart the conversation.

Ellie eventually took out her cell phone she had been keeping in her jeans' pocket. Her ear phones were plugged in, so she ripped them out and played some music from her phone. The first song that played was 'Don't Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go) by Wham!. Ellie bobbed her head as she softly sang along.

"Ever heard of George Michael?" she asked him, breaking the silence barrier.

"Never."

"Well, he was the lead singer of _this_ band. And he had almost every girl in the world wrapped around his finger. They loved him. But then a few years after the band broke up, he moved on and started his solo career, and it came out that he was gay," she explained, turning her body completely, to face him.

Steve frowned. "Why's that such a big thing?"

"Look, I dunno how, no offence here, _your time_ handled guys and girls being gay, but for a while it's been such a controversial thing."

She put her elbow on the railing.

"How do you feel about it?" he interrogated her. The music was still playing in the background.

She shrugged. "I'm all for it," she sighed. "All it is really is two people sharing their love for each other. It's no different than a girl and a guy. I think any form of love is beautiful, you know? I mean, if _they're_ happy, what gives people the right to take that away from them?" she rambled on, looking at the ground. A small laugh escaped her lips. "God, that was so cheesy."

Steve smiled. "No," he said, shaking his head, "I see what you mean and I completely agree with you. Back in _my day_, it wasn't really that big. Only because people were too afraid to come out with it, I think. The other day I saw these two guys holding hands and laughing. I didn't know how I felt about it, but I think I do now. It's really no different to Stark loving Pepper or Thor loving Jane or –do you have anyone?"

She took her lip between her teeth and shook her head. "No. I, uh, I'm not that good with dating."

He frowned. "Do you ever think about finding someone?"

"Yeah, of course. I hate being alone. For seconds or even years, I just –It's what I'm afraid of the most."

He chuckled began to slowly swing his legs to and fro. "Well you won't be alone. You have all of us."

She didn't say anything. There was nothing _to be said_. A warm, strange feeling seeped its way into her stomach like a tidal wave. Suddenly, she didn't feel the cool breeze piercing her skin anymore. For the past few months, the strangers she had been living with –_fighting alongside _had turned into her new, broken family. But, it was enough. _More than enough_.

"Hey, Ellie?"

"Hmm?" she moaned.

"Thank you."

She let out a cynical snort. "For what? Dragging your ass here?"

"For being more than just a teammate."

The smirk on her lips quickly disappeared as she stared at him. He had gone back to admiring the skyline. She hesitated, but without even realizing it, her body shifted closer to him until she was close enough to put her head on his shoulder. At first, he was surprised. He wasn't sure what her actions meant. Reading her was harder than he thought it would be. Nevertheless, he gulped a ball of air down his throat and rested his head on top of hers.

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**Chapter 10 done! Getting closer to the juicy stuff ;D**

**Thanks for reviewing, reading and following. Please don't stop reviewing, reading and following. **

**Hell yeah, team Stellie, am I right? Who watched Age of Ultron? **


	10. Chapter 10

**Wow guys, this story's doing so much better than expected. Thank you so much. You honestly have idea how happy it makes me when I wake up to new reviews. Thanks again. Here's for Stellie for your troubles**

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_You can't feel me, no_  
_Like I feel you_  
_I can't steal you, no_  
_Like you stole me_

_And I want you in my life_  
_And I need you in my life_

_-You by the Pretty Reckless_

"Come on, you two, I honestly have so much shit going on right now already. I don't have time for a stupid love-life," Ellie huffed, stirring the sugar in her cup of English Breakfast tea. Pepper and Natasha sat opposite her, sipping their lattes.

Nat put her cup down and wiped the froth around her mouth. "_That_ is complete and utter BS. All of us here still remember the whole Johnny Storm thing. Even Clint does."

"And besides, everyone deserves some kind of happiness. Superhero or not. Look at Tony for example –he's an Avenger like you, saving the world like you and he has plenty of time," Pepper agreed with her fellow red-headed friend.

Ellie playfully rolled her eyes and leaned back into her chair. "Well you two have known each other for years," she argued, "and Johnny Storm was a once-off thing."

"Fair enough, but don't you think you should at least try?"

"I don't know anyone anyway," she sighed.

Natasha looked around the café they were eating at, until she spotted a man sitting by himself along the window, doing something on his iPad. "What about him? Go introduce yourself to that guy," she urged, bowing her head and lowering her voice. Ellie squinted at him, trying to get a better look. He was wearing formal trousers and a light blue plaid shirt. It looked like his work clothes. Nevertheless, he still managed to let his youth and good-looks show. He also had on a pair of thick black glasses.

"Him?" she slurred, laughing, "no way. He is _so_ not my type. He's got that whole office thing going on there. That's just not going to work, I'm sorry."

"You're judging him without knowing him," Pepper sighed.

Ellie shrugged and took a sip of her tea. "I don't need to know him to know what he's not my type," she insisted. Nat and Pepper gave up, laughing and rolling their eyes. "Besides, I –"

She stopped. Everybody did. All of a sudden, there was a faint boom in the distance. Then another one. Then, _another one_. They were getting closer and closer until it become almost deafening. The streets outside filled with scream of panic as people ran away from whatever it was.

"Shit!" Natasha hissed, running outside to see. Pepper and Ellie followed. Right outside from where they were, crowds of people were frantically dispersing from something they couldn't quite see yet. All that was clear was loud, booming thud getting closer and closer. Then, they saw it; they large, green Hulk-like monster closing in. "Pepper, get Happy and get back to the Tower," Nat instructed as she pulled Ellie aside. "We have to be ready to take whatever it is on. You good?"

She nodded. "Yeah, of course."

"Alright. I'm not sure where everybody is now," she said, remaining calm as she whipped out her phone and called the Tower. Thankfully, Tony answered. "Stark! This is Natasha, we've got a little problem down here between second and third street and request immediate backup. Pepper's on her way to the Tower. I at least need Bruce and Thor here ASAP. Ellie and I will stall so long, but only for _so long._"

"Gotcha," Tony replied and hung up.

Natasha went over to Ellie, who had been trying to get people off the street. The green monster was closing in fast. Nat grabbed the two handguns that were strapped around her ankles, tucked underneath her jeans and started shooting. Ellie tried distracting it by waving her arms up and down like a madman.

"HEY, MOTHERFUCKER!" she screamed, "FOLLOW ME, YOU FUGLY BASTARD!"

She caught his attention quickly and soon, he was no longer trying to get Natasha. The thing he wanted at that moment was Ellie, and nothing less. She sprinted in the other direction, trying to lead him further from the city centre. As she sprinted as quickly as she possibly could, she was forced to dodge cars, lamp poles and various other things he was trying to hit her with. Natasha followed as much as she could, shooting him with her pistols.

"WHAT MONSTROSITY INVADES THIS KINGDOM?!"

Ellie and Natasha stopped to look up something flying in the sky. _Thor_. He swung Mjolnir around a few times before it took him in the direction of the monster, ultimately hitting him hard enough for him to stumble. The second member to join the party was an angry Hulk running towards them and smashing the beast with as much power he could.

"Hey ladies," a familiar voice called out on what sounded like a loudspeaker, "how's that for ASAP?"

Iron Man dropped to the ground, damaging the concrete as he landed. He quickly stepped into action by studying the creature and trying to define it. The first piece of information that came up was the monster's codename, which was, according to S.H.I.E.L.D, the Abomination. He was once working alongside the army, trying to capture Bruce a few years ago. Then, he injected himself with Bruce's blood, transforming him into what they were facing at that moment.

"Old friend of yours, huh, big guy?" he asked the Hulk jokingly as he flew up and started to shoot his beams at the Abomination.

Natasha joined by shooting at him with specially-designed S.H.I.E.L.D bullets provided by Tony. Ellie stood still, trying to concentrate on moving something –_anything. _She managed to grasp a nearby lamp post he had previously tried to throw at her, and it successfully hit him over the head.

"That's right, you fuck," she said to herself proudly as he glared down at her, letting out a violent roar. This only inspired the Hulk to let out an even louder roar, which redistricted the Abomination, who tried to punch Bruce. Somehow, Ellie was able to block most of the impact from his blow from where she was. Bruce stumbled back, but not enough to lose balance. He threw a punch of his own at the opponent and hit him harder. As he staggered, Mjolnir swept in from nowhere and delivered a clean shot, right in the stomach.

"So, what did we miss?" someone asked from behind. Ellie spun around to see Steve and Clint jogging towards them in their suits.

Ellie cocked her head at the Abomination. "Nothing much," she sarcastically responded. As soon as Clint saw, he grabbed one of his electrical arrows and aimed it at the big legs. Of course, he got it right on his first try; however, it wasn't enough to take him down. He furiously growled at Clint before running towards him.

"Nice. Good one Clint," Hawkeye said to himself as he took off in the same direction, sliding underneath him when they passed. Captain threw his shield up at him, hitting him right in the face. It boomeranged back to him and he threw it again, only this time, the Abomination caught it and threw it at no other but Ellie.

Luckily, she blocked it just before it hit her and she took it for herself to use against him until she was able to return it to Steve. The monster tried to crush her with his fist, but instead, hit the outer shell of the indestructible shield. As he retracted his arm, she took the chance to get away from him, as well as give Captain America's shield back to him.

Unfortunately, he caught up to her and jumped in front of her, preventing her from joining up with the rest of the team. Mjolnir once again made an appearance by hitting him in the middle of his back. The Hulk then proceeded to jump on his back, catching him in a headlock.

Ellie continued running towards Steve while the enemy was occupied, but was once again blocked off by him. Except, he was now targeting the Captain.

"CAP!" Ellie yelled and swung his shield at him as hard as she could. He successfully caught it and readied himself for any oncoming blows. But, then, to his surprise, he turned around and grabbed Ellie whole. She didn't even see him coming. "LET ME GO, YOU BRAINLESS SHITFACE!" she demanded, but he just threw her to the side like a meaningless piece of paper and everything blacked out.

…

She shook her head once, then her eyes began to open. It took her a few blinks to be able to see the ceiling clearly. There was an irritating beeping sound coming from beside her. She turned her head and saw that it was only her heartbeat.

"Good morning, sunshine," a voice said from the other side. She looked to see Tony sitting beside her, eating an apple.

Her right arm suddenly pained. She lifted it up and saw that it had been bandaged up; covering whatever wound was beneath it. She gulped down a ball of stifled air before opening her mouth. "What happened? Where am I?" her raspy voice asked.

"Well, you got knocked out while fighting the Abomination and now you're in S.H.I.E.L.D's infirmary."

"Where is everybody?"

He chewed the chunk of apple that was in his mouth and swallowed. "Bruce has been treating you, Pepper and the spy are somewhere, Barton and Thor are in the cafeteria, Cap's right outside and I'm here," he told her and smiled, "I was watching you."

She scrunched up her face. "Why were you watching me?"

He took a deep breath, sighing. "I honestly don't know. Captain America out there made it that you needed someone watching you all the time. We've been taking shifts," he explained and checked his watch, "mine's nearly over, then I think it's either Steve or Thor."

"Y-you really _don't _have to watch me. I'm not exactly going to run away," she grunted, trying to sit up. A wave of extreme pain swept through her as she did so. She clenched her teeth, wincing in pain. "Fuck!" she hissed, gripping her side in pain.

Tony finished his apple and moved across the room to throw it away. "Oh yeah," he huffed, "you have like three broken ribs, two cracked ones, a broken nose, a huge cut down your arm and you _had _little bit of internal bleeding. The freak kinda threw you at a building."

"Thanks," she sarcastically groaned as she slowly sat up, minding the large, black bruise on her side. "How long have I been out for?"

"Three days."

Her eyes widened. "What?! _Three_ fucking days?! Holy shit!"

Tony sat back down next to her and shrugged. "It didn't feel that long, right? Well at least to everybody besides Rogers. That guy's been hanging around here forever," he said the last part under his breath so she couldn't quite make it out.

"What?" she asked.

"Nevermind. Aren't you hungry? Or thirsty?"

She nodded her head. "Starving and nearly dying of dehydration," she responded, looked at the glass of water on the bedside table. She tried to get it, but the pain on her side was too unbearable. Tony quickly grabbed it for her and she gulped it down frantically.

"So much better," she smiled and handed the glass back to him. "So, what's on the menu? Gross hospital food?" she joked.

"Even better. We got you McDonalds. Well, Pepper and Nat went about ten minutes ago. They should be back anytime –"

"Look who's awake!"

Tony stopped and both looked back at the door, which had burst open, exposing the two red-heads.

"…Soon," Tony finished off and moved over to greet Pepper. Ellie's lips curled into a big grin as she saw them, but got even bigger when she saw the food. Pepper and Natasha rushed over to the bed and put the food on the table beside her. Hearing the commotion inside, the next person to arrive on scene was Steve, who had been taking a nap outside her room.

"There she is!" he greeted, smiling down at her, "how are you feeling?"

She sighed. "Like I've just been thrown against a building by a giant alien lizard rage monster," she laughed and reached out for her food. There was Big Mac inside the paper bag, with a medium packet of fries and a Coke. Ellie started with the burger and her first bite tasted like the best thing she'd ever eaten in her entire life. It was still warm.

"This…is…so good…thanks," she said as she chewed and shoved a handful of fries into her mouth. The next person was Bruce, who was wearing a white lab coat.

"You're awake," he said happily, "and already eating junk food. How are you feeling?" he asked as he joined the circle of people around the bed.

"I've been better. Thank you for everything, Bruce." He smiled and nodded once, accepting her gratitude. She took another big bite of her burger and chewed contently before realizing that everybody was watching her. Her jaw slowed down as she looked at everybody strangely. She waited until she was finished chewing to say something. "God, you guys are strange," she huffed, "watching me eat like I'm some kind of virgin on her wedding night in the fifteenth century."

That did the trick. They all looked in different directions immediately.

"Sorry," Steve apologized and stepped back to give her some space while she finished her meal. She tried to eat as quickly as possible, just to be able to talk to them sooner. They went about their own conversations as she did so, and when she was done, she made a point by letting out a deafening burp.

"Oh my God!" she gasped and covered her mouth. "I'm sorry. That was gross."

"Yeah," Tony agreed plainly, but chuckled anyway.

"So, when can I leave?" she asked them, but manly looking at Bruce.

He frowned and hesitated. "Well," he sighed, "we have a private infirmary at the Tower, so maybe tomorrow for the earliest. Nick wants to keep you for another night at least," he told her.

She groaned irritably and closed her eyes. "Great. That's terrific."

"We'll stay with –," Steve offered, but she cut him off.

"No," she snapped, opening one eye, "I mean, you all probably want to get home and rest up. I can't imagine how boring it must've been to just watch me sleep," she huffed, "go home. I'll be fine, really. Thanks for the food."

"Ellie," Natasha said softly, shaking her head.

Ellie frowned. "I'm serious. I'll probably go back to sleep now anyway. You guys go home and I'll see you tomorrow. You look shit tired."

"Alright," Pepper gave in, knowing that they weren't going to win that one. "You're absolutely sure?"

"Yes! Oh my God, you guys are still here?! Get lost already!"

"Okay," Pepper laughed and grabbed Tony's hand, "we're going! Don't lose your mind! Jeez. We'll see you tomorrow, okay? We'll pick you up."

Ellie nodded and smiled as Bruce, Nat and Tony said their goodbyes before all four left Steve and Ellie alone. He didn't move a muscle. He just stood at the foot of her bed, staring down at her.

"Goodbye, Steve," she moaned and closed her eyes. He turned around, but not to leave; there was a couch next to the bed. He slipped off his shoes and settled down on it, using the entire length to comfortably bend his legs as he too closed his eyes.

"What are you doing?" she asked him, opening only one eye again.

He turned his head to look at her. "I'm sleeping. Just like you," he simply replied.

She opened her other eyes and lifted her head up irritably. "Why? Just go home."

"I will when you do."

More annoyance built up inside her, but she hushed her urge to do anything rash, and instead, just put her head back down and glared at the empty, white ceiling. "You're so annoying, you know that?" she mumbled.

"Really?" he teased her slightly, staring at the ceiling too. She took a deep breath, just for extra effect. "How are you feeling?"

Ellie took her time to respond. At first, she wasn't even going to bother, but then again, she didn't have a legitimate reason to be mad at him. In fact, she didn't know why she was mad to begin with.

"Like complete shit."

"Why do you use such vulgar language?" he suddenly asked her, "it's so harsh."

At that point, her frustration had turned into something of a smile. She bit her lip, trying not to laugh. "Excuse me?" she giggled. "Are you _reprimanding _me, Steve?"

"Well, yes."

She laughed even more, even though it hurt like hell. Her laugh disappeared as she rather hissed in pain, clutching her completely bruised side and stomach. Steve was up in a flash, inspecting her to see what he could do for her. She lifted her tank top and her skin was purple and throbbing like crazy. Steve looked at it for a second, but blinked away when she recovered it.

"I'm sorry this happened to you," he whispered to her, resting his hands on the bed.

She gave him a weak smile. "It's not like it's _your_ fault."

Slowly, her hand moved towards his and as they touched, he looked down, frowning, but allowed their fingers to intertwine anyway. His eyes looked back up into hers. Brown vs. Blue. Around them was a paralyzing silence –drawing both of them towards each other. Her hand gave his a small squeeze before his other hand reached over to her face, gently following the outline of her cheek bone.

"You're so …," his breath dissolved into thin air as he regained control over his body and pulled away. She looked away, too and finally released the breath she'd been holding onto.

"Goodnight Steve," she said quickly and pulled her hand out of his grasp.

He moved back and fell back onto the couch, intoxicated by what had just happened. Slowly, he put his head down on the pillow and swallowed his breath, completely lost in the moment, just as she was –lying there alone with an empty hand.

"Goodnight Ellie."

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**STELLIE FEELS! yay! What do you think? **


	11. Chapter 11

**What's this? An update already? Why I do believe it is! **

**So to celebrate this story reaching 100 followers, I've decided to share this update. Thanks so much guys! It really means a lot to me that you're enjoying my work! **

**By the way, I created a tumblr page dedicated to my fanfiction! You can find updates, pictures, lyrics and ask me questions. Great right? The page itself really isn't that magical -I don't even know how to use Tumblr properly, but I'll learn. Check it out to see how I picture Ellie and maybe even vote or share your thoughts. **

**Oh, right...here's the thing: **

** blog/crowfliesmyass**

**not sure if that's right...**

**See you soon! Thanks**

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Bruce put his arm around her as he helped her up from the backseat and helped her to stand up. She immediately stumbled in pain –unable to ignore the throbbing side.

"Do you want me to pick you up?" Steve offered as Clint grabbed her bags from the car.

She shook her head. "No thanks. I got this," she assured him and took a steady step forward. "See?" she smiled at him. He stepped aside, allowing her to try, although he ultimately knew how it would end. He knew that he was going to end up taking her upstairs anyway, whether she liked it or not. Her next step came to a quick end when she lifted her leg and her side contracted painfully. She fell down, grasping her side and wincing.

Steve was at her side in a second, swathing his arm around her back before scooping her up bridal style. "I promise, next time you can do it by yourself," he told her, walking to the elevator.

"Put me down," she warned him. He ignored her. "Do you have a middle name, Steve?"

"Grant."

"Put me the _fuck_ down, Steven _Grant_ Rogers," she repeated herself, frowning irritably. Once again, he ignored her demands as he gently shifted her body's weight to his other arm to press the elevator button. "I can walk. I walked out of the hospital room by myself. And you know, you're totally going against my beliefs in feminism. All of that 'women can do what men can' shit is flying out the window right now. I bet if I was a guy, you'd have let me walk," she rambled on as they stepped into the elevator. Clint, Bruce and Pepper followed them, trying to block out Ellie's rambling, just as Steve was doing.

"…But no. Steven Grant Rogers just _has_ to step in and save the day. I'm supposed to be an Avenger for crying out loud, yet I'm apparently incapable of walking on my own."

"Okay, Ellie. And what did I tell you about your use of language?" Steve sighed, rolling his eyes to Clint, who shrugged and smirked.

There was a second of silence before Ellie started again. "Maybe I should teleport upstairs," she said to herself, "at least I can do _that_ on my own."

"You know, you're pretty heavy," he wheezed and shifted her weight again. "The least you could do is have some gratitude."

Her eyes widened in shock and disbelief. She was suddenly lost for words. "G-gratitude?!" she chocked, "You expect gratitude? I wanted to walk on by myself!"

"Jesus Christ!" Clint whined, "let me out."

Finally, the elevator doors opened on the first floor of the penthouse. The late afternoon was definitely taking its toll as the room darkened. Clint dashed out, mumbling something under his breath. Pepper called for Tony, who was in the kitchen and Bruce went to the labs. Steve took Ellie to the couch in the living room and set her down next to Thor, who was pointlessly scrolling through TV channels.

"It's most pleasant to see you well again, good lady of mind!" he bellowed, smiling.

She made herself more comfortable in the spot she was in and held her hand out for the TV remote. "Thanks. It's good to see you too. Well technically you saw me yesterday, but I was like dead so it doesn't count."

He handed it to her without hesitation and she took over the role of channel surfing, although she wasn't really paying attention to what was on the screen.

"I must say, for a moment I believed that you had perished, but alas; you have proven to be a great warrior," he told her.

She puckered her brow and nodded slowly. "Thanks…," she said leisurely, "It's really not even _that _sore –"

"She can't walk," Steve intervened with an ice-cold bottle of water in his hand.

Ellie rolled her eyes, while Thor's face dropped. "Ay! The beast paralyzed you?" he asked in complete shock.

She let out a small laugh and shook her head. "God no, Thor. Jesus, why do you always expect the worst? I have this giant bruise on my side," she explained and lifted her t-shirt up to show him, "it's really kind of sore when I walk, but that _doesn't mean _that I can't."

Thor's face softened into a small, satisfied smile. Steve sat down on the couch opposite them and gulped down the ice-water. Ellie continued going through the channels, even though without even knowing it, she'd been through all of them thrice already.

"So what about when I need the bathroom?" she blurted, turning to Steve, "are you going to carry me to the bathroom and wait?"

He shrugged.

"What about when I want to go to bed?" she questioned him. He shrugged again. She thought about another question, and when it hit her, her face lit up. "But what if I want to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night? Can I like wake you up?"

Steve took a deep, meaningful breath and blinked hard. "Yes," he finally uttered.

She nodded her head, impressed that he was allowing her to wake him up in the middle of the night. "What if –"

"YES! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!"

"Alright," she backed off, "Jesus. Anyway, Thor, what do you want to watch?" she asked, glaring away from Steve. Thor shrugged. "Let's check Netflix, alright? I'm kind of in the mood to watch the Breakfast Club. Have you ever seen the Breakfast Club?"

"I cannot say that I have, no."

She grinned excitedly as she opened the homepage of Netflix and did a search for the Breakfast Club. Thankfully, she found it quickly.

"I've never watched this," Steve butted in, turning to the TV. "Is it good?"She didn't respond. Instead, she gave him a look that said it all. "Was that a stupid thing to ask?" he asked her, noting her expression.

She let out a sigh. "I give up, old man. Anyway, Jarvis, could you tell everybody that we're watching the Breakfast Club and whoever wants to watch better get down here soon because I'm not waiting more than five minutes."

**_"Certainly, ma'am."_**

Within five minutes, Tony, Pepper and Bruce had already joined Ellie, Thor and Steve. Natasha arrived a few minutes into the movie and Clint was missing in action.

…

"I love that movie," Tony huffed as the end credits appeared on the screen. "Well, I'm going to call it in. It's been a wild ride. Good night guys. Miss Pots, do you care to join me?" he offered and stood up, putting the empty bowl of popcorn onto the coffee table.

Pepper shook her head. "I'm going to take a shower," she said and followed him to the stairs. Their voices dimmed out, but the rest of the group could still make out what they were saying to each other.

"…I'm actually not that tired anymore. I think I'll join you in the shower," Tony mumbled as he wrapped an arm around the redhead. She giggled and pushed him away walking upstairs.

Thor stood up next. "'Tis the hour at which I need to revitalize myself!" he announced, "I shall meet with you good people in the morn!"

"Goodnight Thor," Natasha said quickly, just to get him to stop talking. He too disappeared up the stairs, leaving only Nat, Ellie, Bruce and Steve. But even their smaller group reduced when Ellie cautiously got up, holding her side.

"Well. This was fun. See you tomorrow," she yawned and took her first step. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt as much as she remembered. "Aren't you guys going to sleep?" she turned to the rest.

Natasha and Bruce shook their heads. "We're not really tired. I think we'll just watch some more TV," Bruce responded, glancing at Nat, who looked away quickly.

Ellie looked at Steve. "And you?"

"Yeah…I think I'll go to bed now too. Besides, how else are you going to get to your room?" he teased her. She narrowed her eyes and let out a forced, fake, sarcastic laugh. Steve got up to pick her up, but she pushed him away at first. He stepped back and once again, allowed her to try by herself. She took another step, then another. Her progress had definitely improved and he could clearly tell. She swiped her tongue across her bottom lip before biting it, preparing herself to take another few steps.

The pain was bearable, but only for a couple of seconds before it really kicked in. By then, she was walking at a steady pace, grasping her stomach with Steve following closely behind just in case. Every few times, a grunt of agony escaped her, but she didn't give up.

"You're doing well, Ellie," Steve cheered her on, watching her strictly to ensure she didn't fall. Her walk had turned into a limp. However, just as she stepped ino the elevator, something hit her inside.

"Shit," she stifled, bending over to control the throbbing pain. Steve slid his hand on her back, but she stopped him before he could pick her up. "No," she argued, "let me do this."

"Bruce said that you might not be able to walk. Stop pushing yourself before it gets worse," he insisted on a serious note. She sucked in her breath and stood up straight, ignoring him. He knew that he wasn't going to win the fight. She wasn't going to allow him to pick her up again. She wanted to do it, with or without Steve's assistance. Rather than scooping her up, he put his arm around her waist and placed her arm behind shoulders. He wasn't sure how she would react at first, but she didn't resist or protest, so he figured she accepted it.

"C'mon, soldier," he whispered to himself as he pulled her up. Without her even realizing it, he made it so that she was hardly even doing any of the walking herself. "Is that better?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Thank you."

The elevator opened on their floor and he helped her to her room.

….

**AGE OF ULTRON SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!**

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"So Betty…she's your ex?"

Bruce sighed. "Kind of. But there's nothing going on between us," he assured her. Natasha remained silent. He smirked and lightly nudged her arm with his. "Why do you ask?"

The smallest smile took her lips as she looked at him and shook her head.

"No reason, really. Just curious."

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**Yay! Chapter 11 done! Nearly there, folks! Stay tuned and don't forget the Tumblr page or to review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**_Damn. Thanks for the reads, guys. Just a side note: I really wasn't too sure about this chapter. A part of me feels like it's too soon, but most of me wants it to happen (you'll see once you read). I know I probably shouldn't post if I'm even slightly unsure, but this chapter has been hanging around for a while and I really wanted to put it in this story. Some feedback would really be great. _**

**_Thanks. _**

**_Disclaimer: I DO NOT own the Avengers, besides Ellie, nor do I own the lyrics to the following song. _**

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_With blood shot eyes I watch you sleeping_  
_The warmth I feel beside me is slowly fading_  
_Would she hear me if I called her name?_  
_Would she hold me if she knew my shame?_  
_..._  
_Your tears don't fall, they crash around me_

_-Tears Don't Fall by Bullet For My Valentine_

_A set of glass double doors rolled apart as the taller, black-haired woman entered the building in front of her. She couldn't see the woman's face, but followed her inside anyway. The entire reception room was white; the floor, the walls, the furniture –hell, even the employees were dressed in pure white clothing. As the older woman before her made her way to the front desk, she tried to hear what they were saying, but they only spoke in hushed whispers. _

_Once they were done, the woman went back to talk to her. _

_"…You're going to spend a couple of days here, Ellie…" _

_"What? Why? _

_"Sweetheart, it's just for a little while, I promise. Maybe even only a couple of weeks if we're lucky." _

_"I don't want stay at this stupid place, mom!" _

_"Ellie, stop it. We're already here, stop acting like a child, you're embarrassing me in front of all these people." _

_She looked around at all of the people standing about. All of them looked exactly the same, strangely enough. They looked like nurses. Suddenly, the front doors opened again and a man in a wheel chair rolled in wearing a white suit, uncontrollably laughing at himself as a nurse pushed him further into the building. They passed her, and when they did, the man looked at her, smiling with his eyes widened._

_"I don't care about these stupid people, mom. Please can we just go home and go on with our lives. I'm sorry, alright?" _

_"It's not about that, dear. This is for your own good."_

_"If you would just tell me why –"_

_"Not yet. You'll find out soon enough." _

_One of the many nurses came to her side. She tried to ignore her. _

_"This lady is going to take you to your room. Be good, okay?" _

_"But, mom –" _

_"Go on now." _

_"Please! Don't do this! I'm sorry!" _

_"Stop it Ellie!" _

_The nurse's hand quickly grabbed hold of her arm, tightening her grip each second. "This way, Ellie," she said in a very robotic-sounding voice. _

_She resisted by trying to shake her off of her arm. "LET ME GO! THEY'RE HURTING ME, MOM!" she screamed. That only cued even more nurses to grab hold of her until she couldn't even move. "MOM!" _

_The room started narrowing down into a thin, long corridor. The woman seemed to be fading into the distance. Still, she kicked and screamed and tried to get away from the nurses. _

_"MOM! I'M SORRY!" she cried, screaming as loudly as she could. Tears rolled down the sides of her cheeks as her throat tightened, making each breath more painful than the last. Even more so when she screamed._

_ "MOM! DON'T LET THEM TAKE ME! PLEASE! THEY'RE HURTING ME!" _

_The woman's small figure just waved before turning around and leaving. There was nobody there. The hallway was empty. The girl tried to carry on screaming, but her voice had been ripped out of her throat. _

_"NO!" she chocked as the nurses forced her onto a white bed. They all held her down as a couple of them tied her arms and legs down, preventing her from getting away. _

_"PLEASE!" her empty voice called out. _

**_"MOM!" _**

**_"MOM!" _**

"Mom…"

"Ellie?"

"Stop it…you're hurting…me…"

"Ellie!"

"GET THE FUCK OFF ME!"

All of a sudden, her hands were free. She managed to push the nurse away from her, but it even that was useless. She clenched her fists as she punched the body in front of her. A hand caught her fist.

"ELLIE, WAKE UP!"

She jolted up with a giant gasp of air. The second she woke up, everything in the room dropped and hit the ground. Beads of sweat mixed with tears dripped down her face and made her vision even more blurry. The only thing she could make out was Steve, who was hovering over her, watching her pant wildly. She grasped her bruised side in pain. Although it had been a week since the accident, it still hurt when enough pressure was put on it.

Pepper, Tony, Bruce and Natasha stood at the foot of her bed, looking down at her. Her lips parted once she realized what she had done. She looked around the room and saw what a mess she had made; there were clothes all over the floor and the bedside table was knocked over along with the telephone. There were random books lying around too. The bedside lamp lying on the ground was flickering rapidly. It took one look from her to switch it off.

"What the fuck just happened?" she asked, gripping her hair and closing her eyes.

"Your guess is as good as ours," Tony said. Pepper was standing behind him –as if she was scared. "Are you alright?"

She nodded and pulled her duvet over herself. "Yeah. I think so. What's the time?"

"Three thirty," Natasha responded, pulling her night gown over her tank top and shorts and checking her watch.

"I'm so sorry," Ellie breathed, lightly touching her lips, "This isn't supposed to happen anymore."

Steve stood up straight and combed a hand through his blond mess of hair. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked her again, looking down.

She nodded. "Yeah, I am. I'm sorry. I'll be fine. You guys go back to bed."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, Bruce. Thanks. Sorry for disturbing you. It won't happen again."

Tony sighed. "And if it does? How long until you wreck the entire building?" he snapped out of irritation. Pepper angrily bumped him with her elbow. Had it not been the middle of the night, Ellie would've known not to take him too seriously. She understood how tired he must've been, considering that she had practically woke the entire building up with her screaming and of course, things flying around her room. However, Steve and Natasha immediately shot glares in his direction. Bruce looked down, trying not to get involved.

"What, you think I asked to be born a stupid fucking freak?"

Tony backed down, holding the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes. "Sorry," he muttered and took a deep breath. "That was irrational. I'm going back to bed," he huffed and stormed out. Steve rolled his eyes and folded his arms.

Pepper put her hand over her heart. "He's just tired," she tried to explain, "I'm sure he didn't mean it."

"It's alright. Just go back to sleep."

Pepper waited for Natasha at the doorway before they bid Ellie, Bruce and Steve goodnight and disappeared into the hallway. Bruce made his way to the door and turned back for Steve.

"You coming?" he asked.

Steve nodded. "Go ahead. I'll be right behind you."

"Goodnight," Bruce called out as he too disappeared.

Steve faced Ellie again and sat down on her bed. "What was that?" his voice softly asked, but she had already lost it.

"Fuck," she gasped, pulling her knees to her chest before rocking herself back and forth. She closed her eyes and slowly, her quick, rapid breaths slowed down. She buried her face in her hands and tried to pull herself together as best she could at that moment. He didn't seem bothered by the fact that she had completely wrecked her bedroom anymore.

"Ellie…," he said softly, moving closer to her.

When he tried to put his hand on her shoulder, she flinched. He reached out again, slower than before until he got it right. Then, her shoulders began to shake and her breaths got louder again. She could feel her bottom lip quivering and knew exactly what that meant. Despite her attempts to prevent that from happening, it wasn't within her control. She couldn't keep it in anymore.

As soon as he realized what was happening, he climbed further onto the bed and his hand on her shoulder moved further up to her neck. He crossed his legs and began to rub her back in a circular motion.

"I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do here, Ellie" he whispered, trying to calm her down.

She didn't respond. He didn't go any further. The two of them just remained quiet for a couple of minutes –at least until she had calmed down a bit. As he waited for her in silence, he took some time to survey the damage that had been done. It wasn't really that much, besides the bedside lamp –which was lying on the ground, shattered. Everything else could easily be repacked. There were books that had been sitting on her chest of drawers and desk, shoes, clothes and papers. He didn't even want to know how far it could've gone, had he not woke her up.

When he turned back to her, something behind her caught his eye and he squinted to get a better look. Stuck on the headboard of her bed, were a few photographs. The first one was of her and a bunch of S.H.I.E.L.D agents. As he scanned the picture, the next familiar face he saw was Natasha's. He gathered that it had been taken a long while ago, since Nat's fuming hair was past her shoulders and Ellie's was a lighter shade of brown. Then, he spotted Clint on the floor, Maria on the side and Nick Fury right in the middle, not looking too amused. There was a huge, bright badge stuck on his leather coat that said 'Happy Birthday!'. The last person he knew was Sharon Carter, who was standing right next to Ellie.

Steve's small smile faded when he saw her. Seeing her reminded him of how she blatantly lied to him about everything, even going far enough to lead him on. He quickly moved to the next picture, which was of a big, fluffy, grey and white Husky dog. Next to it sat a small girl with her arms around him, grinning. There was a scar over her left eyebrow –just like someone he knew.

The next one surprised him. It was the bottom half of the pictures they took at the carnival. The ones she said she'd keep forever. They were stuck on her headboard for her to look at every single day. Once when she woke up and once when she went to bed. The next picture was a small version of the 'Breakfast Club's poster. The next few were of bands including Nirvana, AC/DC, Guns 'N Roses and Queen.

Steve turned back to her, patiently waiting for her to talk to him, or give him some kind of signal to show him that she was alright. Finally, she lifted her head and wiped her face.

"Sorry," she mumbled, looking away and rubbing her arms. "I couldn't do that in front of them."

"You don't have to apologize," he said. A part of him felt a little surprised that she somehow trusted him a little more than the others. She didn't look at him, "just tell me what's wrong."

After a couple of minutes of silence, she took a deep breath and fired away. "I nearly killed these people in high-school," she admitted, shamefully looking down. "The kids at school called me names…did things to me," she whispered, thinking back to the incident. She remembered their faces when she revealed her powers. They all looked at her like she was the devil himself. "They told people what they saw; how I could move things without lifting a finger."

Steve didn't say anything. He let her speak.

"My mom put me in this madhouse. My own mother just gave me to them like some kind of business trade. They did these tests and experiments, but they couldn't figure it out. They kept me in a cage like I was some kind of lab rat –always poking me and sticking things in my arm."

"I got out, though," she sighed, nodding, "but I guess I'll always remember."

"That's what you dream about?" he asked her.

She nodded. There was a long paused of stillness. She was looking down, playing with her duvet and he was watching her. "I'm sorry for waking you up," she murmured.

He shook his head. "No, you didn't wake me up. Truth is, I'm always already up. I can't really sleep either," he muttered, "I was walking up and down. The others came afterwards."

"Why can't _you _sleep?"

He took her question as an invitation to move further onto the bed before he told her. "Fighting in a war can change you. Especially if you've watched somebody you've known your whole life die in front of you. Truth is that I don't really remember the last time I've slept the entire night."

Yet another moment of silence waved over them. She used it to pay some respect, but he used it to remember the day he let Bucky die. Then, he thought back to the day in DC when he found out that he was in fact, still alive.

"You should go back to sleep," his voice cut into the block of quietness.

"Yeah…," she breathed. He stood up to leave.

"Would you do me a favor?" she blurted.

He shrugged. "Sure."

"Would you stay with me?"

At that moment, she finally looked up at him, and caught his gaze. It burned her inside, knowing that he'd been watching her, the entire time, yet made her feel safer than before. She begged him with her eyes and he gave in almost without delay.

One side of his lips curled up as he nodded once. "Of course." He stood up, looking around the room while she pressed her back down against her mattress again, covering herself with the grey duvet cover. "Where do you, uh…where do you want me?" he asked her.

She lifted her head only and took out one of the two pillows from underneath her head, tossing to the other side of the California king bed. He moved over and she rolled onto her side, back facing him. Steve made sure to stay on the edge of her bed on his side with his back facing hers. Within the space between their bodies, another three or even four more people could've easily squeezed in.

"Lights off, please, Jarvis," she said. Within the next second, the lights were out, leaving Steve and Ellie in the dark. "Goodnight, Steve," she whispered, closing her eyes. He lifted his head slightly and sighed. No respond left his mouth. After about a half hour of just staring into the blank space of darkness before them, she finally drifted off. He stayed up though, listening to her soft breaths.


	13. Chapter 13

**_Yes, this is chapter 13! Yay! _**

**_So, once again, thank you so much, my amazing readers. You guys really know how to make my day. If I could give each one of you a cookie, I would, but since I don't know who you actually are, or bake for that matter, I'm afraid an update will have to suffice. _**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers, or any other Marvel character, or the movies and songs mentioned. I do own Ellie though. _**

**_Just something else: To Moon Shadow2113, I honestly laughed when I realized you were right about the bottom/top half of the pictures. Wow. Sorry about that. I can't believe I did that. Thanks for pointing it out. _**

**_Enjoy chapter 13, though. _**

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_I am moody, messy_  
_I get restless and senseless_  
_How you never seem to care_

_When I'm angry' you listen_  
_Make me happy, it's your mission_  
_And you wont stop 'til I'm there_

_-Pieces of Me by Ashlee Simpson_

Steve's blue eyes started to open. He looked straight up at the white ceiling for a few seconds, then his ears caught the soft breaths that came from his side. He turned his head and only caught a glimpse of her back. He assumed she was asleep, so he sat up and rubbed his eyes. His mind raced back to what had happened the night before –how they both fell asleep. Falling asleep was never the intention.

After a fair amount of hesitation, he scooted over to see if she was actually still asleep. She was right on the other side of the bed, with her hands tucked under her pillow. Rolling back to his side, he took some time to get another look at the destruction made from the last night. Her bedroom was still a mess from the night before. He could see the damage done more clearly. He swung his legs over the side of the bed as quietly as possible and stood up, immediately stepping on something hard. When he moved his foot over, he saw that he had stepped on a book. Tilting his head to see it better, the title turned out to be 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'. He had heard the name before during a conversation, but initially thought it to be just a movie.

Picking it up, along with a couple of the other books on the floor, Steve called it upon himself to start tidying up the place while she slept. After a few minutes, he had successfully managed to reorganize every book back onto her bookshelf. He scooped up as much of her clothing as he could and carefully made a pile at the foot of the bed.

Meanwhile, on the bed, Ellie was starting to wake up. She had completely forgotten what had happened the night before, but only for a few minutes as she rubbed her eyes and quietly lifted her head to see what the rustling in her room was. Her eyes thinned into two slits as she observed what was going on.

Still completely oblivious to her waking up, Steve bent down with his back facing her, starting to pick up more items of clothing when he accidentally picked up a particularly awkward piece. It was black and lace. He held it up, narrowing his eyes as he studied it closely before realizing what it really was. It's not that he was surprised to see women's underwear in a women's bedroom, but he was fascinated by how detailed it was. As far as he knew, men's underwear only came in basic colors or patterns; there was no lace involved anywhere. He wondered why Ellie would ever need, let alone wear something like that in the first place. Was basic underwear not adequate enough for her?

"What are you doing?!"

His entire body jolted. He looked back to see Ellie sitting up, watching him with a very confused look on her face. Steve's face went red as he tried to come up with the best explanation possible. Things took a turn for the worse when he saw that she had been sleeping in only a tank top and a pair of grey cotton shorts, which had ridden up hectically. He looked away as his forehead creased, looking for anything to say.

"Uh… I was cleaning up and um….," his voice staggered. Slowly, her eyes traveled down to his hand, which he was trying his best to hide behind his body. All it took was a second's glance for her to piece together the situation. She instantaneously blinked away, pursing her lips as she waited for him to drop her bra and move on from the whole scene. He somehow read her mind and hastily tossed it onto her bed before dumping the rest of the clothes.

Once the uncomfortable atmosphere thinned out, she looked around her room, which looked completely different compared to what she remembered it to look like. "You really didn't have to do all of this," she told him, her morning voice still evident. "But thanks."

"Did I wake you?" he asked her, sitting down by her feet, trying his hardest to move on from the past state of affairs. She shook her head. "I was just about to clean up the broken lamp. I don't suppose you have a broom lying around here somewhere, since you're kind of a witch?"

Ellie rolled her eyes, partially smiling at his lame attempt at a joke and partially smiling at his hair, which stood up messily in almost every direction. She was so used to seeing his hair either gelled back or simply combed. At that moment, chunks fell over his eyes while the rest stood up. "No, Steve. I don't keep brooms in my room. I'm not that strange. And I'm also not a witch. I don't use witchcraft."

He chuckled at himself proudly for making her smile. "Alright then. I'll just go grab one then," he insisted and as he was about to stand up, she moved forward and grabbed his arm.

"Wait. I think I might be able to do this one," she said, sitting up on her knees, leaning over the side of the bed. Steve moved in beside her to get a better look. At first, he watched how she concentrated so intensely, then turned to the shattered lamp. In a few seconds, the pieces started drifting towards each other, creating a heap of broken shards. In the end, it looked as though someone had manually swept the pieces up.

"That's …," he chocked, and let out a small laugh of disbelief, even though he had seen her work before. "Wow. I might never get used to that," he scoffed. She crossed her legs and sighed, tucking a loose wave of hair behind her ear. "What?" Steve smiled, lightly nudging her.

Ellie scrunched up her nose slightly, as if she was hesitating about something. "It's just bizarre," she huffed under her breath.

Steve looked at her with a puckered brow. "What is?"

"Everything," she shrugged. "This. For so long I never thought that I'd be able to control it."

"Well I think you're doing a pretty good job."

She bit her smile. "Thanks."After a pause of silence, she moved back to her sleeping position, flopping back onto her pillow and climbing back underneath the covers. "Well...I'm going back to bed," she announced, covering her head with her duvet. Everything went quiet for a while as she shut her eyes, only listening to the sound of her own breathing. Then, out of nowhere, she felt her duvet being ripped away, followed by the sound of Steve's laughter.

"What the hell?!" she whined as her hands frantically felt around for her covers again. Steve folded her duvet up as far as he could so that she was forced to actually get up instead of going back to sleep. "Aw, Steve. This is bullshit!" she jokingly complained. "You spent the night in _my _room. You don't get to do this to me!"

He ignored her and stood up, folded his arms. "It's seven thirty," he reminded her, "we already overslept."

She shook her head. "Oh hell no. That is _not_ what you call oversleeping. Oversleeping is waking up at two thirty in the afternoon. It's a Saturday morning for Christ's sake. You already woke me up, now the least you can do is to let me sleep again."

"Fine. I'm going for a jog around the block. When I get back, I expect you to be awake or I'll bring Barton in here with his bucket of ice water."

"Bite me," she grunted back as she rolled onto her stomach, wrapping her arms around her pillow. Steve took the duvet cover and threw it over her again. He took the plastic bag that was lining her small trashcan underneath her desk and quickly shoveled up the broken pieces of lamp on the floor. Ellie knew what he was doing, but didn't offer him any help as payback for taking her covers away from her. She watched him slave away with one eye open.

"Goodbye, Ellie," he eventually said as he opened her door, ready to leave.

She made an effort to completely lift her head to say one last thing to him before he disappeared into the hallway. For some reason, seeing him standing at the door to leave her triggered a knot within her stomach. She gulped and swiped her lip over bottom lip, trying to overcome the sudden feeling inside. "Hey Steve," her groggy voice called out,He smiled down at her, still waiting for her to say what she needed to say. "Thank you for everything. You have no idea what it means to me."

"It's no problem, really," he shrugged and lightly drummed his fingers on the door. "See you later."

"Yeah."

With one brief wave, he slipped through her door and vanished. As soon as he door closed, she dropped her head back onto her pillow, burying her face completely.

"Oh fuck," she groaned to herself and shut her eyes, "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey guys! A new update just for you! **

**Thanks a million for the reads, reviews, favs and follows, by the way. I really appreciate it. **

**Enjoy ! x**

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_Don't say I'm out of touch_  
_With this rampant chaos, your reality_  
_I know well what lies beyond my sleeping refuge_  
_The nightmare I build my own world to escape_  
-Imaginary by Evanescence

About three weeks had passed since Ellie's night catastrophe. Since then, there had been at least one more incident every night. No one spoke about it –or at least in front of her. It was just something they had learnt to move away from. As long as she was in the same room as the rest, it was like nothing ever happened the next day.

Each person had a chance to wake her up already. The soft chants had turned into painful screams. They couldn't ignore it, but the process of going to bed, waking up to wake _her up_ and eventually going back to bed became their nightly routine. To avoid turning her bedroom into a complete wreck, she'd successfully removed most of the décor from her room, like lamps, books, boxes and photoframes. Her room was just an empty space with a bed against one , she was up right after the first scream so that nothing around her got damaged.

She thought back to the look on Pepper's face the first night. She'd seen that face an endless amount of times, but somehow never imagined seeing it on one of her dearest friends. Other than that, they all treated her how they always did at first; joking around, teasing, talking and everything in between.

"_Ellie_."

_"Ellie…" _

She shook her head snapping out of her thoughts. Right in front of her was Clint, waving his hand in front of her face. She snapped back to where she really was; on a jet with Natasha, Clint and Steve, to do something for Tony. Something that apparently included sneaking around and stealth –two things Stark particularly sucked at.

"Good to have you back," Clint smirked and moved away.

"_…You four need to infiltrate Hammer Industries' hidden base to retrieve the blueprints." _

"Remind me why Stark can't get his own shit back?" Barton asked, checking the coordinates on the radar.

Natasha, who was checking the parashoots, rolled her eyes. "Because he's a lazy ass, that's why," she responded. The pilot steered the aircraft downwards, toward a safe spot for them to land. "And because he's not a trained agent. The only thing he knows is attacking first, thinking later."

"How far until we reach the base?" Steve intervened on their little conversation, stepping behind the cockpit.

"A few minutes, so hang tight," Clint answered, sighing, "Ellie," he called back. She stood up from her seat and came forward. "Are you taking a parashoot?"

"Uh…do I really need one? I could just teleport, I suppose."

Steve looked at her, nodding once. "Alright. Ellie and I'll push through, Nat, Barton, you two cover us until we get in. Once we're in, you rendezvous with us again and we'll spread out to find the objective. Got it?" Steve went through the plan. The three agents nodded and before they knew it, they reached their destination. The pilot hovered over the land. Ellie vanished and reappeared on the ground –only a few minutes before Steve, Nat and Clint landed.

The four split up into their groups. Natasha and Clint made their way up the heavily fortified walls and took out as many guards as they could. Once she got hold of a sniper rifle, she attached her silencer and got down to work by sniping any oncoming enemies. Clint did the same with his bow. When they had a chance, they used their scopes to survey windows of the building, trying to find their objective. In one window, Clint spotted Justin Hammer walking down the hallway, holding a brief case.

_Bingo_.

"I have eyes on the target. It's with Hammer."

"No. Wait for Cap's signal. Do _not_ engage."

Clint rolled his eyes and loosened the grip he had on his bow. Natasha swiped her tongue across her bottom lip, holding her sniper rifle closer to her cheek. Meanwhile, Steve had single-handedly taken down a handful of guards while Ellie was positioned further away from everybody, ready to teleport on the Captain's command.

After taking out the last guard, Steve lifted his fist, signaling Clint and Nat to hold on. One nod in Ellie's direction directed her to make an appearance nearby. In a few seconds, she emerged a few feet before him and he quickly caught up.

"We're entering the building now," Steve's voice filled the ears of Natasha and Clint. The two assassins watched as Steve clasped his hands together on top of his knee as he leaned against the wall, allowing Ellie to use it as a boost to climb up the wall.

"I'm up," Ellie announced and got down on her stomach. She grabbed her binoculars from the pouch on her belt and surveyed the area cautiously. "I've got two hostiles making their way around the corner to the left and two more right below me."

"Hawkeye," Cap called out, "make your move."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Clint smirked and loaded another arrow into his bow. With one single shot, both guards were down, leaving only the remaining two he couldn't reach. "What about the other assholes?"

Ellie put her binoculars away and took a deep breath. "I can handle it. I'll open the door once I've secured the outside. Widow, be ready."

"I was born ready, kid."

She crept to the edge of the roof and silently jumped down right behind them. Without a second to spare, she wrapped her arm around one of their necks and used the body as a pole to swing over, kicking the other one in the face. The kicked guy regained some balance while she slammed the man within her grip onto the ground, aggressively slamming the side of his head against the concrete ground, knocking him out instantly.

The second guy whipped out his handgun, but before he could shoot, she kicked him in the crotch and ripped the gun from his as he bent over in pain. He too was quickly knocked out by the butt of his own gun.

"Clint, what's the status of the area?" she asked as she jogged over to the gate to open it.

He checked through his scope, making sure that nobody was around her. "It's clear."

"Good. Cover me," she said, inspecting the door. It was long and silver, without any handles or locks visible. Next to the doorframe, on the wall, was a small computer screen with a keyboard. "Fuck," Ellie huffed, irritably kicking the door. "I need a password. Can anybody get reach Stark?"

Steve took out his radio, trying to get Tony. "Stark, this is Rogers. We need you to hack into the building's security. Romanoff's not equipped."

A couple of seconds later, a familiar, cocky voice intervened. Nat rolled her eyes as soon as she heard his voice. "**_Well well well_**," Tony finally responded over the radio, "**look who needs me after all**."

"Hurry it up, Tony," Natasha sighed. "I'm tired."

"**Give me a second**," he said. Steve, Ellie, Natasha and Clint waited patiently for Tony's word. Like always, he quickly came through and the locks within the thick, silver gate unlocked. "**There you go**."

Steve jogged over to Ellie before both began making their way into the actual building. Ellie thanked Tony for his assistance before he went back offline. Steve and Ellie jogged towards the target, cautiously keeping an eye out for any unwanted attention. Of course, Clint and Natasha, who were positioned on top of the walls that surrounded the base, had them covered.

"I'll go around the back," Ellie whispered to Steve, pressing her back against the wall. He stuck his head around the corner to see if the coast was clear and nodded.

"Alright. I'll take the front. Barton, Nat, I need you to –"

"I know old man. We're making our way down now."

Steve sighed. "Right. On my mark, we'll enter at the same time. Do whatever's necessary to acquire the target, got it?" he turned to Ellie for the last bit.

She nodded once. "Got it."

"Alright. Go."

Without a second gone to waste, she disappeared. A few moments later, her voice was back on the line to tell Steve that she was ready. Once he received the news from Natasha and Clint that they were positioned outside two other entrances, he gave the word.

He prepped himself to kick down the door. "On my count. One. Two –"

"Three," Ellie finished it off and they all broke into the building at exactly the same time. On Ellie's side, she was forced to take down three guards with Clint taking out two from where he was. Steve had knocked out a couple by himself and Natasha waited for a chance to make her move...

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**Just a filler chapter. We're getting closer, kiddos. **

**Don't forget to review x**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey guys, here's chapter 15! WARNING: there is a lot of cursing in this chapter. You've been warned. By the way, Ellie looks like Crystal Reed. **

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_I lose my way_  
_And it's not too long before you point it out_  
_I cannot cry_  
_Because I know that's weakness in your eyes_  
_I'm forced to fake_  
_A smile, a laugh everyday of my life_  
_My heart can't possibly break_  
_When it wasn't even whole to start with_

-Because of You by Kelly Clarkson

At one point, Steve had rendezvoused with Ellie again, while Natasha and Clint had decided to team up too. The idea was that they'd cover more ground in less time, making their mission a whole lot easier for everyone. Both teams still only used their stealth tactics, which proved to be efficient. Whichever team got to the target first was to immediately report it so that they could all just fall back together. Thankfully, at one point, Natasha and Clint took the initiative to break into the security room.

From there, they followed Justin via the security cameras and directed Ellie and Steve, who were closer anyway. Finally, they crossed paths with him and from the get-go they butted. They cornered him. He had nowhere to go. Even if he tried, Ellie would've just teleported and recaptured him.

"Justin Hammer," Steve said, glaring at the blond.

Hammer grinned. "Captain America. It truly is a pleasure to finally meet you," he sarcastically spit, then turned to Ellie. "The newbie, huh? Welcome aboard."

"We'll take that briefcase, Hammer," she scoffed. "Kindest regards from Tony Stark."

Justin chuckled, yet tightened his grip on the briefcase. "You know, you should really learn to knock before entering," he mockingly shot back. "And I think that I'll hold onto this for a little longer."

"We'll give you a second to say your goodbyes," Steve told him, taking a step closer. "Hand it over."

Justin pursed his lips and scrunched up his face as if he was hesitating. "See, there's a minor problem there because I don't _really _want to. But don't worry; I'll have Hammer Industries send Stark a letter, expressing our deepest condolences for your termination. What was it again? Captain Rogers and, I'm sorry sweetheart, I didn't catch your name?..."

"I didn't give it," she shrugged. Hammer nodded once, then, when they least expected it; a small white ball randomly landed in front of them, distracting them for Hammer to make a run for it. They studied the ball for a second before hearing the faint beeping sound coming from it.

"Oh fuck!" Ellie grunted and spun around, recognizing it as a grenade.

Instinctively, Steve looped a hand around her waist and sprinted toward the closest cover, which was behind a nearby desk. Before she even had a chance to react, the grenade went off, but luckily, they were already safe. Their backs were pressed against the steel desk. She could only feel the heat of the explosion against her skin as Steve's arm wrapped around her and pulled her body as close to his own as possible. His other arm held up his shield above their heads.

When it died down, she opened her eyes and looked up at him with eyes of utter gratitude. He had just saved her life. He slowly released her from his grip, but never took his eyes away from hers.

"You okay?" he whispered to her. She nodded. Finally, he blinked away and moved further away. She stood up, taking her time. She didn't want to fall over or anything. Steve got up too and studied their surroundings.

"THERE!" Ellie suddenly shouted and darted out the room, following Hammer. Steve followed her, trying to stop her. Who knew where he came from? He could've had an entire army waiting for her.

At first, she was out of his sights, but he managed to relocate her quickly. "Ellie, FALL BACK!" he called out. She was standing in front a bigger-built man with Justin standing afar, ready to watch the show. "ELLIE!" Steve shouted at her, but it was too late.

The guy ran towards her, attempting to knock her down with a powerful kick. As she dodged it, rolled to the side and swung her leg around, kicking him down.

"Is that all you got, you prick?" she taunted him, waiting for him to get back on his feet. "Damn, you're fucking pathetic."

The man clenched his teeth in fury and charged at her. He managed to tackle her down to the ground, which was when Steve joined it. He pulled him off her and kneed his crotch, buying himself enough time to help Ellie up. As soon as she was on her feet, she spun around with her leg up, finishing off with a kick. That wasn't enough, though.

The enemy threw a series of perfect punches and kicks at her, but Steve blocked them all off with his trusty shield. When the guy threw his last punch at them, Steve stepped to the side and Ellie rolled forward, right underneath his legs to get behind him. She jumped onto his back, trying to choke him, but he was able to grab a fistful of her hair. She released her grip around his body in pain and he threw her onto the ground.

"Nigel, finish them off before the place blows up," Justin yawned, crossing his arms and tapping his foot.

A few seconds later, Natasha's panicked voice filled the ears of Steve and Ellie. "Guys, we need to get the hell out of here _now!_ Hammer set of the self-destruction. The place is going to blow in five minutes!" she hastily spoke.

Ellie and Steve exchanged looks, but got cut short when something hit Steve. He crouched over in agony, grasping his lower abdomen and clenching his teeth in pain. He help up his hand, inspecting it, and his fingers were covered in his crimson blood. Just as she looked at the man, she spotted the incoming blade and it stopped in mid-air, right in front of her. Both Hammer and his goon stopped in shock, watching her hold the weapon up without laying a finger on it.

The next thing she knew, the blade went flying back, hitting the original thrower hard. Justin ran to the garage. She rushed over to Steve, sliding down on her knees frantically to inspect the wound. He had been stabbed.

He shook his head. "I'm alright. Let's go. You heard Nat."

"Don't –don't pull it out," Ellie advised Steve, ignoring him. "Wait here, alright, Steve? I'm going to get this motherfucker."

He shook his head and painfully stood up, picking up his shield with one hand and putting it on his back. "Don't. We have to go," he argued in grunts. "Now."

"Wait here," she insisted, refusing to listen to him. She pressed her Bluetooth further into her ear. "Nat, Barton, Steve's hit. We're at the garage. Come and get him. I'll get the shit. If I don't make it in two minutes, leave without me."

"Ellie, fall back!" Steve barked, but she shook him off and disappeared.

…

"What the _hell_ is your deal?!" Ellie irritably hissed as she followed Steve inside. Everybody instantly congregated around to see what was going on. Natasha and Clint raced out of the way, trying to avoid being called out or involved.

Steve furiously threw his shield on the ground and spun around, pointing his finger at her and still holding his wound, which had stopped bleeding, thanks to Natasha's handy work. "You just completely ignored my orders!" he yelled irritably, venting his fury out on her.

"Oh well I'm very sorry, chief!" she yelled back sarcastically, throwing her arms up. "In case you forgot, that shitface nearly killed us both! I did us a favor! You don't appreciate it? Well too _fucking_ bad!"

At that point, Tony, Thor and Pepper had all rushed to the scene. Even Bruce had come to see. A fight between Steve and Ellie was what they all least expected; they always seemed to get along perfectly fine.

Steve shook his head, not caring that everybody was watching. "The Avengers is a _team_, Ellie. That means we work _together_. You can't just run off and do your own thing!"

"Oh my God! You're so hypocritical!" she snarled, "First, you rage on me for not following _your_ stupid orders, now you say we're a _team_! Make up your fucking mind, because if we're meant to be a team, we're supposed to work _together_! That's what being a team _means._ Do you want a fucking dictionary?!"

He took a step closer to her and his frown deepened as he lost more patience. "You could've gotten hurt or even killed," he lowered his voice, trying to remain calm, but eventually, he lost it with her. "Your recklessness could've killed us all and jeopardized the entire mission!"

She narrowed her eyes at him, glaring at him with a fuming frenzy. "BUT IT DIDN'T!" she shouted, "God, you think I can't handle myself? You think I don't know the consequences?!" At that moment, she took a step forward, violently pushing him back with all her strength. He only staggered back. "WELL FUCK YOU, CAPTAIN FUCKING AMERICA!"

"Um, Ellie…," Bruce's voice softly called out.

She ignored him put her focus back on Steve. "YOU MIGHT BE A SOLDIER FROM THE DARK FUCKING AGES, BUT GUESS WHAT?! I'M NOT! I AGREED TO JOIN THIS TEAM TO SAVE PEOPLE, NOT TO BE TREATED LIKE A FUCKING KID WHO, APPARENTLY, IS SOMEHOW INCAPABLE OF MAKING RATIONAL FUCKING DECISIONS!"

"You better watch your mouth!" he warned her, jawbone clenched.

Ellie's chin dropped and she let out a humorless laugh. "Excuse me?!" she gasped and laughed somberly again. "You're FUCKING going on about my _FUCKING_ language?! I'm a grown woman –I'll say and do as I fucking please!"

Steve's scowl tightened. "A grown woman who still has nightmares," he snapped sarcastically, "how grown-up."

Everybody went still with complete shock. Pepper covered her mouth as her eyes widened. The atmosphere went from utterly awkward to horrifying in a second. Ellie's face dropped. Something inside her sunk. She could feel her face heat up, as well as the dreaded lump start making its way up her throat. Her lips parted as she looked down, embarrassed and ashamed. Steve's face softened as he started to realize what he just said.

"Wow," she breathed and took a step back.

In contrast, Steve took a step forward. "Ellie, I'm –"

"Y'know what? _Go fuck yourself_," her voice murmured as she started walking away from him, towards the stairs. When she passed him, she butted him with her shoulder as hard as she could. "Asshole."

"Ellie," he called out behind her as her followed.

She shook her head, not stopping for him or looking back. "Just keep the fuck away from me," she spat through her teeth as she picked up the pace of her walking. Steve stopped following her halfway up the stairs and watched her go. He knew she was crying. He could hear it in her voice. They all could.

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**Oh damn, there goes Stellie. What did you think? Was Ellie too aggressive? Was Steve being unreasonable? **


	16. Chapter 16

**Heya guys! Here's chapter 16! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the following lyrics or characters, besides Ellie. **

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When you walk away  
I count the steps that you take  
Do you see how much I need you right now?

-When You're Gone by Avril Lavigne

"Ellie!"

She sniffed and angrily wiped the single tear that was rolling down her face. Her teeth clenched tightly as she stopped walking and her hands tautened into fists at her side. Steve jogged behind her, minding his knife wound carefully. He paused a few feet behind her on the catwalk above the living room, trying to find the right words to say.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "Ellie, I didn't mean to –"

She spun around. "Oh yeah, sure," she shot at him, "but you're right anyway. I mean, _nightmares_? That is _so_ cliché, huh? Do you even get a more _pathetic _level than that?! Like a little fucking child, dreaming about monsters crawling out from underneath the bed, right?"

He stepped forward, opening his mouth to say something, but she went one. "God, you know, I'm so fucking useless. Medication doesn't even work on me! _That's_ how pathetic I am! There you go!" she raised her voice again, gripping her hair with her hands and beginning to pace. "Like a child, right Steve? Just like a fucking child!" she snarled aggressively. "Well, y'know what? I said it before and I'll say it again –_fuck you_."

That time, she pushed her hands against his shoulder, shoving him back once more. Again, the effect on him was minimal and he only staggered back slightly. She had stopped crying. All she had left was rage. At that point in time, small things around them, and in the living room, had started levitating to her emotions –like a switch somewhere had suddenly turned on. Steve looked around, moving a step back cautiously. It seemed as though either Ellie hadn't noticed it, or she didn't really care.

"Ellie, calm down," he finally made out the words. "I'm sorry, alright? Just settle down." She ignored him. He progressed closer to her, slowly and watchfully, using short glances around the room to see if either of them was in danger. "You're right, Ellie, about everything, just put everything down nice and easy."

She listened to him that time, afraid of breaking anything or harming anyone. Although it wasn't directly within her full control, she relaxed and closed her eyes, trying hard to get rid of her anger. Trying to think of something else. Trying to remember what made her happy. Eventually, everything got put back down gently. Not a single thing broke. She opened her eyes, automatically meeting a big star on a blue chest. She looked up, her glower still as evident as ever. Then, she disappeared.

…

She first went to her room to change her clothes, then she found herself in the middle of New York City. She had spent hours roaming around New York at that point, even took a few cabs and subways to other parts. The sky was darkening quickly, indicating how close the nighttime really was. All she really wanted was sushi. She was traveling to a place she hadn't been to in a few years time. Hell, she wasn't even sure if it was still there or not. It was a Japanese restaurant –a somewhat typical sushi bar with the same decorations as all the others she'd passed on her way. But she liked that particular one, so that was the one she was going to.

As she walked with her hands in her pockets and her head down, her phone suddenly began vibrating against her thigh. She quickly dug around her the pocket of her jeans and whipped it out to see who it was. It was Pepper. At first, she hesitated. She didn't want to go back to the Tower and she knew that that was what Pepper would want her to do. But, she answered anyway.

"Ellie speaking."

"Ellie! Oh my God, where are you?" she heard the redhead panic.

It managed to trigger a small chuckle from her, though. "Relax, Pepper," she laughed, glancing up at the street name on the corner of the curb. "I'm going to this sushi bar downtown. It's down on Sixth Street, Brooklyn if you really have to know."

"Alright. I just wanted to know that you're safe. You've been out for a good couple hours now."

Ellie checked her watch frantically. Sure enough, it had been nearly three hours since she left the building. She knew that she'd spent a lot of time dawdling around, but never expected to have taken _that_ much time. "Oh shit, I'm sorry, Pepper," she apologized, crossing the street. "I lost track of time. I'll be a few more hours though. Not sure how long I'll be at the sushi bar. Besides, I'm a big girl. Don't be an asshole like Steve, please."

Pepper sighed. "Are you alright?" she asked with a softer tone.

Ellie put the phone to her other ear as surveyed her surroundings for a brief moment. "Yeah, I'm okay. I mean, sure Steve was acting like a total douche bag, but other than that, I'm fine."

"So you're still mad at him?"

"I'm not mad, Pepper, I don't know what I am to be honest. But fuck him, you know? Life goes on."

"Yeah…it does, I suppose. He's being all morose in his room right now. Typical man if you ask me," she whispered the last part into the phone.

Ellie shook her head. "As if it's my fault," she muttered softly in disbelief. "He has nothing to be mad about. He's acting like a child, just ignore him," she huffed, getting annoyed by the simple thought of him sulking in his room over nothing.

"So which restaurant are you going to? Like what's the name?"

For a moment, Ellie stopped. Why did she _have _to know? Why was she being so nosy? "It's called Sakura's…why?" she hesitated, then half smiled into the phone. It was nice to hear a friendly voice. It was nice to talk to Pepper. "Are you coming to join me?"

"What? No, sorry. I can't, I'm leaving for DC in an hour, so…."

Finally, Ellie reached the restaurant. Thankfully, it was still open. She stopped in front of it and looked up at the pink, blue and green lights surrounding the board that read 'Sakura's Sushi Bar' and smiled to herself. It had been such a long time since she'd stopped to read that particular sign. The last time, however, she was with her mother. That part made the memory bittersweet. She wanted to remember the good times they had there, without having to remember that they were spent with her mom.

"Well alright then," she said after a while. "Enjoy DC, Pepper. I gotta go. Nice talk."

"Of course. See you in a couple of days."

Ellie put down the phone and shoved it back into her pocket as she pushed the door open with one hand. The place wasn't full. The only other people inside was the staff and small bundles of people clustered around the place. A woman dressed in traditional Kawaii clothing immediately welcomed her and sat her down at a table in the middle of the place. She took her order and scampered off into the kitchen.

For a few minutes, she sat there by herself, first looking around the place to see what had changed since the last time she'd been there, but everything was almost exactly the same. When her drink came, she took small sips as she blankly stared at the door.

"Excuse me, miss," a soft, high-pitched voice slashed through her inattentiveness. She looked up at the small, blond boy smiling a half-toothless grin at her. His eyes were blue-grey she noticed immediately, just like someone else she knew. His blond hair was pushed back messily. He looked about five or six. Ironically enough, he was wearing a Captain America t-shirt.

"H-hi," she forced a smile and looked away, trying to avoid having to buy raffle tickets or anything like that.

"You're a superhero. My mommy told me. She says she saw you fighting the big scaly monster," he said, holding out a notebook and pen. She immediately paused and looked at him again with widened eyes. "Can you please sign this for her?"

It took a few seconds to process what was happening, but she nodded anyway, after pulling herself together. "Sure, kid," she agreed and took the pen from him. "You like superheroes?"

He nodded wildly. "Yep. My favorites are Captain America and Hulk," he told her, pointing at his shirt and stretching it out.

"The Hulk's pretty cool, huh?" she laughed a bit at his eagerness and confidence, especially at such a young age. He had literally just met her five seconds ago, yet he was apparently already so comfortable around her.

"And Captain America!" he added. "I have a Captain America suit _with_ a shield and everything! I'm gonna go as him for career day 'cos I wannna be just like him when I'm older! He signed by book, too y'know."

Her forehead creased, playing along for the sake of the kid. "Really? You have Captain America's autograph?" she asked him jokingly. He nodded again and yanked the book out of her hand to flip to the page. Sure enough, there was Steve's handwriting scribbled in his notebook. Her lips moved as she read out the short message above his signature.

_'Don't let anybody say you can't do it, because you can. Trust me, soldier, I know._

_From: Captain America' _

"Wow, look at that," she snorted, practically visualizing Steve saying something so righteous and inspirational. But she was mad at him. She rolled her eyes to herself, making sure that the boy didn't see.

"But this book is for my mommy. She likes superheroes too."

"Yeah?" she puckered her brow, then looked around the restaurant. "Where is she by the way?"

He closed the book and tucked it underneath his arm. "She's over there," he said, pointing to the building on the other side of the street. She turned around, leaning over her chair to see what was there, and frowned when she realized he was pointing at the hospital. "She said I should come down here to eat."

She was shocked. He was only about five years old, yet his mother allowed him to roam the streets freely at night. "By yourself?" she gasped.

He nodded again. "Yeah. She's in bed."

'In bed', she thought. Her frown turned into a gape of sadness. She knew what he meant. "Oh," she sighed softly to herself. "Alright, uh, have you eaten yet, kid?"

"Yes. I was gonna go back but then I saw you sitting here. Where are the others?"

Another small smile took on her lips. He was a typical child, she thought. Filled with nothing but innocence. He didn't really construe the situation at all. All he knew was that his mother was for some reason, in hospital and that Ellie was an Avenger. He didn't know which one was more important.

"They're at home," she explained to him, "watching TV."

"Why aren't you with them?"

She shrugged. He suddenly slid onto the chair opposite her, not caring about anything else around them. Ellie looked around the room nervously for some reason, hoping and praying that maybe he'd have to go soon. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy his presence, but she'd just wanted some time to herself, to think and imagine. Now, there was that boy, confidently staring at her from the opposite side of the table. "Is Captain America your friend?" he questioned some more. "And Hulk?"

She let out a small, nervous giggle and stroked her collarbone to give her fingers something to do, otherwise, they'd just tap on the table. "Yes. Hulk's my friend. Captain America, well, sort of."

"How come it's 'sort of'?" he was suddenly filled with questions. He put his elbows on the table and rested his head in his hands while swinging his feet up and down, as if expecting some kind of story behind her reasoning.

She knew he wasn't going away soon. She knew she was going to have to entertain him. They were too far gone. With nothing else to do, Ellie played along only for his benefit. She figured he must've been going through enough, especially with his mom in hospital and everything. But before she responded a part of her knew that she should've just said that Cap was her friend to avoid even more questions, but there was no going back. "It's complicated adult stuff," she puffed, folding her arms and slouching. He set his book on the table and mimicked her actions.

"Is he your boyfriend?" his voiced teased. His big grin resurfaced.

Her eyes widened in shock. "What? No. _No no no._ Why would you think that?"

She was genuinely shocked at that point. He barely even knew her, yet he felt that he could make such accusations. Inside, she nearly freaked out at the thought, but calmed down after reminding herself that the person in front of her was only a kid.

He huffed irritably as if he was losing his patience with her. As if she wasn't answering to his satisfaction. "Because that's what mommy says about _her_ boyfriend," he told her, pulling a disgusted face. "Yuck."

Ellie's face softened. She never was good with children. Her waitress arrived again, with her order of sushi and carefully placed it in front of her. The boy watched. Ellie tried to ignore it as she thanked the waitress and picked up her chopsticks. "Oh, well, I promise you; Captain America is not my boyfriend," she compelled a laugh and shook her head. What a charming little boy. She smirked it off, mixing her wasabi in her soy sauce.

"Well, lady, I gotta go back," he sighed, kicking himself off the chair and gathering his book. "Seeya."

"Yeah," she smiled, nodding. "Nice meeting –"

But he took off in a sprint, holding the book close to his chest.

"Hey, wait!" she called after him, but he ran out the restaurant, ignoring her. She suddenly felt obligated to ensure he was safe, and by the looks of things, he was planning on running straight across the street. Ellie pushed herself out of her seat and ran after him frantically, keeping a close eye on the busy road ahead. "Kid, slow down!" she yelled, frustrated with him that he was ignoring her. He looked back, acknowledging her, but still ignored her. Then, he made broke into another run across the street without even paying any attention to the traffic.

"Shit!" she cussed to herself and followed him, bumping into the front of at least three cars and two yellow cabs. The traffic light was projecting a bright green light, indicating that she and the child we in the wrong. Cars hooted furiously and tires screeched horribly as the scraped against the black road. "Hey, open your fucking eyes!" she hissed at one car that nearly knocked into the boy and angrily punched the hood.

Finally, they both reached the other side. "Hey, kid, STOP!" she shouted after him and thankfully, he obeyed. She caught up, frowning down at him. "Are you crazy?!"

He shook his head.

"You could've gotten seriously hurt," she stated crossly and went down on her knees to be at his level. "Your recklessness nearly got us –"

For some reason, she stopped. A sudden rush of déjà vu settled over her all at once. She abruptly saw herself standing before and saw herself as Steve, reliving what had happened earlier on. She saw what he was trying to get across and how she just disregarded him and blocked him out. She realized that she had done exactly what the boy had; irresponsibly ran off for the greater good, or at least that's what she thought. She realized that she was wrong for cursing him out like she had and although he had wounded her by bringing up her nightmares; he was still right about everything.

Sure, the Avengers was a team, but Steve _was_ the leader, and she knew that even before she joined.

"You okay, lady?" the boy asked her, tilting his head to the side.

Her fingers went up to her lips, gently touching them as she nodded slowly. "Y-yeah. I'm alright. Are you alright?"

He nodded. She put her hand on his shoulder and smiled. "Don't ever do that again, okay? Believe me, I know. Now go back to your mom, alright?"

Again, he nodded. "Okay. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," she assured him and he turned to the hospital after bidding his last goodbye. Ellie stood up, expressionlessly staring at the sidewalk. She knew what needed to be done.

She needed to apologize. That was the only way.

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**At least she realized she was wrong, right? Thanks for reading!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hey people! Here's an update just for you! **

**First off, how do you guys like Tom Holland as Spidey?! Personally, I loved him in the Impossible. He seems like a pretty good actor and if the guys up at Marvel think he's good enough for the job, that's good enough for me. To be honest, as long as they give him his lame, yet funny puns when he's Spider-Man, I'm cool with it. **

**But anyway, enough about Peter, here's Ellie and Steve. Hope this chapter is as satisfying as it was for me to write. Enjoy.**

**Also, if you want, follow me on Twitter crowfliesmyass for pictures, memes, updates and questions. **

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_My love, leave yourself behind_  
_Beat inside me, leave you blind_  
_My love, look what you can do_  
_I am mending, I'll be with you_

_You took my hand and added a plan_  
_You gave me your heart_  
_I asked you to dance with me_

_-My Love by Sia_

When she got back to the Tower, she went straight to her room and paced. She contemplated whether she should go and talk to Steve or wait until morning. She even made it out her room and down the hall before chickening out and going back, deciding that it would be better to just do it the next day. But then, she wanted the weight off her shoulders as soon as possible and forced herself back to his room. She knew there was no getting out of it after knocking on his door. Hell, she wasn't even sure he was awake.

"Steve?" she called out and knocked again when he didn't reply. "Listen, it's me Ellie. I need to talk to you, so could you open the door?"

Still nothing. She took it as him ignoring her. He was probably wide awake, laughing at how ridiculous she sounded, practically begging for forgiveness. She knocked again, more irritable that he wasn't opening. She knew damn well he was inside, just ignoring her. Something even told her to just teleport inside, but she didn't want to intrude.

"C'mon, Cap, open up," she tried again. "Look, I'm sorry. I kind of feel like an idiot standing out here so could you _please_ just open up?"

Zilch.

She gave it another go, only her anger thinned out into something she never would've guessed –hurt. She actually felt hurt that he was just ignoring her. At least he could tell her to go away. "Steve, I'm sorry about earlier on. You were right. I see that now," her voice choked and she pressed her forehead against the door, shutting her eyes. "You're mad, I know, but I want you to know that I'm sorry. And that you _are_ the leader of this team. I had no right to run off so stupidly. Please open the door."

Quietness.

"We can talk about this if that's what you really want, but please just don't ignore me. I know you're in there and if you're trying to make feel like a total douche bag, you're succeeding," her voice softened. She had no anger left inside her to fight. There was nothing besides the growing lump in her throat. "I don't wanna fight with you, Steve, I –," she paused and took a deep breath. "This is so fucking stupid," she huffed, holding the bridge of her nose.

She suddenly kicked the door with her foot, using up the last bit of frustration she managed to scrounge up inside her. She slowly turned around, pushing her back against the door and sliding down until she was sitting on the ground with her knees pulled to her chest. "Goddamnit, Steven Grant Rogers, what are you doing to me?"

Ellie didn't cry. She buried her face in her hands and took another, loud breath, trying to calm down before she kicked the door in or something like that. Finally, she stood up again and faced the door. "You're welcome to come to my room when you stop acting like a fu –," she grunted, but the door swung open in a second, her fist still in midair. Steve's blond locks were all over the place, framing two squinted blue eyes. A white t-shirt clung to his body and ended over the waistline of his red, green and blue boxers. He looked down at her, not saying anything.

After staring at him in shock for a few moments, she closed her mouth, cleared her throat and awkwardly checked her watch. It was 2AM. "You know what?" she gawkily laughed at herself, "I can come back later, really, I don't even know what on earth I was even thinking. I mean, I totally should've checked the goddamn time before banging on your door like a maniac. Jesus, I'm sorry," she began to ramble.

Steve folded his arms and sighed. "Ellie?" he groaned out of tiredness. She had already practically got him up. She might as well have continued and finished. "Did you just get back now?" he asked her, realizing she was still fully dressed as if she'd just arrived. She looked down at herself, then back at him and shrugged a shoulder.

"Listen," she started, "about the mission –I'm sorry. What I did was _not_ okay and I want you to know that what I did was totally irresponsible and you have every right to give me orders. I knew that when I joined," she said, looking down, "Uh, I'm the rookie and I should've followed your orders, so…"

He clenched his jaw as his eyes nonchalantly scanned the hallway behind her. "I accept your apology," he nodded, half-smiling, but then it vanished as he coughed. "But you _did_ finish the mission. Good job. And I owe you one too for what I said."

As he spoke, her smile grew. She shook her head and shrugged. "Don't worry about it. And thanks."

"No problem. Thanks for waking me up."

At least that one got an even bigger grin from her. She looked back at the ground, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Ultimately, she was trying to give herself something to do, besides her skin getting hotter and hotter in pace with her heartbeat, which was rapidly pounding against her chest at the sight of the weak smile placed upon his lips too.

"Goodnight," she scoffed, shooting him one last glance.

He stepped back into his room slowly, swinging on the door. "G'night. Try to get some sleep."

Before anything else happened, she went back to her room, feeling like a naughty schoolgirl sneaking out at night. She closed her door slowly, somehow not wanting to be heard, and stripped down to just her t-shirt and pair of grey cotton sleeping shorts before crawling onto her bed and sat with her back pushed against the headboard, trying not to fall asleep. She knew that falling asleep meant having another nightmare, which eventually added to one of the many incidents that would ultimately require the help of one of the Avengers. Ellie didn't want Steve have the satisfaction of being right about that part, she thought. She didn't want to give him that luxury.

Maybe if she stayed up all night, he'd realize that it didn't happen _every _night. Maybe then they'd all think that she was getting better somehow.

For most of the time, she found herself staring into darkness, fading into her thoughts and memories. Some were of the fight she had with Steve –how she could've handled it differently and what she should've rather said to him. Then, it went to the moment they had just shared –the apologies and that stupid smile of his. Others were of if she had just been normal –she would've been living by herself, maybe with a boyfriend in the city, having to wake up at 7am to go to work. No powers, just her. No abnormally skilled training in various martial arts, weapons or even hand-to-hand combat. She would be been a normal adult living a normal life.

Other thoughts were of her seeing her mom again. At that point, she had pulled her knees up to her chest, lost in the idea of reuniting with her mother. The woman who raised her single-handedly, literally and figuratively. The woman who put up with her constant arguing, lying, sneaking out, keeping secrets for all those years. The woman who seemingly loved her for only seventeen years, then everything changed.

It angered her to dig deeper into that idea, so she forced herself to move on and imagine something else. She imagined what it would be like, should she ever be able to master herself correctly. Would she ever be a hero, or would people forever live in fear in her presence? Suddenly, she saw herself, saving the city, saving lives and being praised by the rest of the team. 'Alright, Ellie!' 'Good one!' 'You saved 'em all!' Voices echoing inside her head made her smile at the slight chance of it ever becoming something more than a dream. Her bloodshot eyes slowly began to weigh down.

Then, she switched back to Steve and the fight, only that time, she wasn't mad at him. She was mad at herself for exploding like that on him. He was just looking out for her. He was trying to protect her and what does she do? Curse at him over and over again. His face blew up like a billboard in her mind –how shocked he looked when he said what he did. How he followed her, reached out to her, but she pushed him away. She wanted him to somehow know that she didn't mean what she said to him –all the cursing. She _prayed_ that for any reason, he didn't really regard any of her used words.

Ellie's body had slouched tremendously as she sat and stewed in the shadows. She allowed herself to lie down on her side, promising herself that she wouldn't fall asleep at any costs. But, the more she thought and worried about Steve, the more she stopped worrying about herself. As long as he was alright, so was she. Slowly, the reminder that she needed to stay awake faded. Maybe if she allowed herself short periods of sleep, she wouldn't have enough time to think up a dream or even a nightmare. Maybe if she woke herself up before the time, she'd prevent herself from waking anybody else up.

With her new plan in mind, she settled down and consented to close her eyes and drift away, in hopes of waking up again shortly. The first thing she was going to do in the morning was go boxing, she decided, to let of some steam…

…

Gripping her duvet with all her strength, Ellie started kicking again, screaming aggressively as tears streamed down her cheeks, dampening her pillow and her neck. The blazing inferno underneath her clothes was enough to make her twist her tank top with her fist, trying to get some kind of ventilation into her system. Again, she was being taken away. Carried down a long white hallway. Pinned down by porcelain nurses with undeviating smiles scribbled across their faces. An empty voice, crying for help. But nothing came.

"Ellie."

She shook her head, sobbing frenziedly as she tried to block out the clearest voice calling out her name out of a hundred dolls around her. Suddenly, she felt herself being hurled up, a hand stroking her hair calmly, along with a whispering accent coming from beside her, shushing her softly. There was a hard surface pushed against her face and she started hitting it and trying to push it away as hard as she could.

"Don't…_fucking_…touch me!"

"Alright, Ellie, it's alright. I'm right here. Just wake up."

_That voice_.

Snapping awake, her body jolted, panting and wheezing frantically for breath of air, fingers hooking onto the closest thing, which was a shirt. She opened her eyes, immediately meeting a pair of familiar blue eyes, framed by messy blond hair, looking down at her. She pulled up against him tightly, resting her head against his chest. One of his arms cradled her body while his other hand gently grazed against her cheek.

"I'm so sorry, Steve," her voice rasped as if she had lost it like in her dream. _Her nightmare._ Carefully, she released his t-shirt.

He shook his head, half-smiling down at her. "It's okay. You're okay now."

She read his lips as if she couldn't believe it. After everything –after all the shouting, screaming, cursing and stupid apologizing, he was still there. She sat up, sitting between his legs, and he let go of her. He put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to cringe ever so slightly. "Hey," he said softly, tilting his head slightly. She still didn't look up, even though all his attention was on her. Finally, she slowly looked up –first starting with his lip and gradually moving further up to the two blue eyes that were sill fixed on her.

A small breath broke away from her lips as her eyes traveled back down. In one moment, she leaned forward and surprisingly, he did the same –her hands were brought to caress his face while their lips met. As the kiss deepened, Ellie's hands went back and forth from his cheeks then to the nape of his neck, and after a few moments of sitting completely still, he took her lead, even pulling her head closer at one point.

Just the way his lips connected with hers; it felt like two perfectly matching puzzle pieces. A feeling in Ellie's lower stomach surfaced–something indescribable. Something she'd never felt in her life. Nevertheless, when the kiss broke, she pulled back slightly in hesitation, but Steve almost immediately pulled her back and pushed his lips back against hers. The second time, she looped one of her arms around his neck while his fingers gently tickled the back of her neck.

Slowly, Steve's body started leaning further back; bring her with him as he rested his head on her pillow. The kiss pulled apart. He cradled her head against his shoulder while she rested her hands on his chest, closing her eyes for another shot at falling asleep peacefully. His hand gently brushed through her hair as his other hand supported her body so she didn't fall off him. That night, she fell asleep quickly. He, on the other hand, drifted off into a light sleep. Still, she woke him up again when her body started shaking and she started mumbling small things, but he'd rub her back to avoid starting the entire process again over and over again, until they got it right.

And they eventually did.

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**YAY YAY YAY YAY **


	18. Chapter 18

**Hey guys! It's been a while, so I managed to scrounge up this chapter for you guys, the bestest readers in the world. It's not great, but hopefully it will suffice until I update next time. Hope you enjoy.**

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_Now I've got nothing left to lose_  
_You take your time to choose_  
_I can tell you now_  
_Without a trace of fear_

_That my love will be forever_

_\- Neutron Star Collision by Muse_

Much to her own surprise and slight disappointment, she had woken up alone the next morning, without even the slightest trace of Steve. She knew he had left her a while ago, telling by the time. For once she had woken up before 10AM. The sunlight lit up her entire room and warmed her bed, making it okay to not really even sleep with a blanket. But when he had left, he had gently rolled her off him and tucked her in. She took a quick shower before slipping into her black skinny jeans and dark grey Nirvana t-shirt.

Just as expected, almost everybody was already up and going. Natasha and Steve were training in one of Stark's fully equipped training centers a few floors down, while Tony and Bruce sat at the kitchen table, sketching ideas for something they nicknamed 'Project Veronica'. Clint was practicing his target shooting on the deck with apples strategically placed upon some of Tony's best inventions, motivating him to not miss, unless he wanted to suffer Tony's wrath. Thor was exploring Netflix.

"You're up early," Bruce commented, taking a sip of his coffee. Somehow, she didn't expect any of them to talk to her after her little breakdown with Steve. Maybe they'd gotten over it. She just played along anyway.

After finding the carton of milk in the fridge, she treaded towards the cupboard with the glasses. "Can't sleep the entire day," she shrugged, pouring herself a glass of cold milk. "Besides, I thought I might spend some time with my two favorite geniuses in their lab."

Tony shook his head. "Uh uh," he grunted. "Not happening, kiddo."

"I was kidding."

"Actually, Ellie, now that you're here," Bruce cut in, glancing at Tony. "How do you feel about needles going into your skin?"

She scrunched up her face. "Is that a trick question?" she asked, lifting a shoulder. "I dunno. Whatever, I guess."

"Great. Could you come down sometime today? I promise I just need a little blood. I won't drain you," Bruce said, lifting his hands in surrender when he said the last part.

Ellie nodded. "Sure, as long as you're not planning on drinking it or some other weird shit like that, it won't be a problem."

"Thanks."

She went back to the kitchen to make herself something to eat. At the moment, toast sounded like the easiest and quickest thing to prepare.

"**Sir, Sam Wilson has arrived." **

Ellie's head shot up and she immediately looked at Tony, who told Jarvis to bring the man up. The name was familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it. They waited for him to come up patiently. She sat on the top of the counter, swinging her legs to and fro as she sipped her glass of milk. Tony quickly tossed the plates that were scattered on the table, into the dishwasher. Clint came back inside to see what was going on.

Finally, after a few moments of awkward silence, the elevator beeped and the doors crept open, exposing the famous Sam Wilson. His arms were folded across his chest as he stepped into the room, immediately scoping Tony's work of art the Avengers called home.

"Sam Wilson," Tony said a deep voice and went over to him, holding out his hand for him to shake.

"Tony Stark," Sam responded with an eager smile. "Nice place you have here."

Tony shrugged, not shrinking away from glory and recognition. He led Sam further into the place, closer to the kitchen were Ellie, Clint, Thor and Bruce were, waiting to meet the potential new Avenger. First up were Clint and Thor, who both opted to play it safe with brief handshakes. Next was Ellie and last was Bruce.

"It sort of feels like I'm just reuniting with old friends. Cap's told me so much about you all that I feel like I already know you."

Ellie puckered her brow teasingly. "Is that _all_ he talks about? Us?" she laughed. "Wow, guy really has no life."

"Told you," Tony scoffed jokingly. He put his finger on his chin and scrunched up his face. "In fact, where is the old man? Is he still training with the Spy?" he asked them, but of course before any of them had a chance to react, Steve and Natasha joined in from behind him.

"_The Spy_ has a name, shell head," Nat retorted and flashed a smile at Sam. "But he already knows that. It's nice to see you again, Sam."

"Nothing's changed," Sam grinned and turned to Steve. The two exchanged nods. "A man doesn't get a drink around here?" he joked, looking around. Ellie nudged Tony's arm with her elbow, prompting him to whip something up at the bar for everyone, even though it was still morning. He went ahead anyway and the group moved the conversation to the around the bar. Ellie, Natasha and Bruce sat at the bar while Steve and Thor stood. Sam and Clint took the nearby couch. He was fitting in well in such a short period of time.

They mostly spoke about irrelevant things –music, movies and what was going on in the world. Debates broke out between Natasha and Tony, but got put out by either Steve or Bruce. Ellie and Thor mainly bombarded him with questions regarding the Falcon's suit and armor. Every now and then, Clint would go off topic, which ultimately just led to another debate between Tony and Natasha.

For Steve and Ellie, things were unclear. They hadn't gotten the chance to talk about what had happened between them, but Steve often found himself staring at her –watching her speak, smile and laugh and soon, he'd find himself doing the same. The only time they got a second alone was when Tony and Bruce agreed to give Sam an impromptu tour of the Avengers Tower. Steve took over the bar.

"Ma'am," he greeted her, winking.

Her lips curved. She swung her leg over the other and rested her elbows on the counter top. "I'll have a Mijito on the rocks," she smiled, resting her chin on her knuckles.

In response, Steve lifted up a bottle of Johnnie Walker onto the counter, along with two glasses. "Sorry, we're all out," he said, carefully filling one quarter of each glass.

Ellie reached out and took the glass, taking it to her nose to catch a whiff. "Not a whiskey fan. Not really much of an alcohol fan."

"I know. That's why we dilute it."

She watched him as he brought up a bottle of ice water and reached out her glass for him to pour. He filled it nearly half-way. He didn't put any water in his drink. She assumed that it was because he liked the taste.

"Cheers," she laughed, raising her glass. Steve raised his until both glasses clinked against each other, making the golden liquid inside swish about.

"Cheers."

Both threw their heads back, tossing the stuff down. Steve did it with ease with no sign of a reaction, while her face scrunched up into something filled with disgust.

"Arg," she grunted, sticking out her tongue and shaking her head. "Gross."

Steve set his glass down, laughing at the multiple facial expressions she was displaying at once. "Here," he chuckled, passing her the bottle of water he used to dilute her drink. She took it and gulped a few mouthfuls until she was satisfied. Until the rough taste was close to being completely gone. For the moment, it seemed like they were alone, even though Natasha and Thor were right there, speaking amongst each other about Jane Foster.

Ellie looked down, playing with the rim of the glass, chunks of black hair roofing over her face. Steve stalked her quietly, watching her eyes study her hands and glass.

"How'd you sleep?"

She looked up and for a second, paused. "I, uh…," she stammered, searching for enough words to make sense. "…I slept well."

Then, she laughed at herself. It wasn't because she thought she was being funny or anything along those lines. It was because she knew the answer. For the first time in what felt like forever, she was able to give an honest response to the simplest question ever asked.

"_How about you?_"

Steve shrugged a shoulder. "Well, I was warm and cozy."

"Oh really?"

"Really."

She pursed her lips, trying to look more serious. "Do you like warm and cozy?"

He looked up, pretending to think, playing along with her. "I'd say it's better than cold, alone and stuck in a block of ice for about seventy years," he joked, breaking her poker face. "But yeah, I like it."

"That's good," she nodded, clearing her throat and standing up. "Because I like it too and I'd just _hate_ to have to have to go back to being cold and alone."

She backed away, getting ready to go look for Tony and the rest of the touring-gang. He threw the dishrag over his shoulder and leaned forward as if she'd taken him with her as she moved back.

"Ellie," he called out. She looked back. "You don't have to be cold and alone," he said softly, glancing quickly at Nat and Thor to make sure they were still occupied with each other. Her face softened even more as she slowly shook her head and looked away, trying to conceal her childish feelings.

"Oh, don't worry, Cap," she sighed, playing with her fingers. "I wasn't planning on."

"Great," he huffed, beginning to wipe the counter top with the rag.

"Neither was I."

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**Crappy ending, I'm sorry. What did you think? x**


	19. Chapter 19

I am finding out that maybe I was wrong

That I've fallen down and I can't do this alone

Stay with me, this is what I need, please?

-My Heart by Paramore

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"I guess we sort of got carried away yesterday, huh? Didn't get a chance to do those blood tests."

She jokingly rolled her eyes. "Damn it, Banner, I was hopin' you'd forget."

"Not a chance. Now I swear to God, you'll only feel a slight prick," Bruce assured her, bringing the needed closer to her arm. Ellie nodded once, not talking her focus off the small line of metal. Tony stood on the other side, monitoring.

"So what do you think about Wilson?" Tony asked her, trying his best to grab her attention.

She looked at him, trying to go along. "Uh…he's great," she huffed, "he's a nice guy."

"Yeah. Too bad he's not interested."

"What? –AH!" she hissed as she felt the needle penetrate her skin. Her concentration darted directly back to her arm. She could see the crimson fluid travel smoothly through the tube. It darkened with time, making it look black. Bruce slowly retracted the needed and gently wiped her arm with a cotton ball.

"See?" he smiled, discarding it, "not so bad, huh?"

She shook her head. He beckoned her to hold the cotton against her skin and she obeyed. Tony sat down at his desk and immediately began running an analysis on her blood. Bruce kept to the other side of the cubical, where he cleaned his workspace and threw away everything he didn't need. Ellie stayed on the bed, swinging her feet to and fro as she pressed the palm of her hand against her arm.

"You don't have like a lollipop or anything, right?" she sighed, carefully lifting the cotton ball to see if the blood had dried yet.

Both Bruce and Tony snorted. "All out, sorry. But I'm sure Tony wouldn't mind buying you a diamond or something to make up for it."

Tony spun around on his chair and playfully tossed a scrunched up piece of paper at him, who managed to dodge it perfectly.

"Well you both know I'm not the jewelry type, but a brand new Harley should do the trick," she joked, fumbling her brows at Tony suggestively. "Or a maybe a helicopter, y'know?"

"How about bicycle and a _toy_ helicopter?" Tony suggested. "I could get you one of those neat remote-controlled ones that hookup to your phone. Maybe even a little drone."

Ellie raised her brow and smiled. "A drone? For what?"

He shrugged a shoulder and folded his arms. "Well maybe you could use it to spy on a certain star-spangled Capsicle."

Even Bruce paused and looked at her for that one. Her smile gradually faded. She looked down guiltily and stopped swinging her legs. "You, uh, you know about us?" she asked them, her voice lowered. Suddenly, she felt like a child again. A child being called into the principal's office for something she didn't even do. Nevertheless, a certain form of guilt swam into her. She wasn't sure what to expect from them. She didn't know whether there were rules against messing around with fellow teammates.

Tony took a deep breath and glanced at Bruce. The look he redirected told him to speak on his behalf. He didn't really know what to say anyway.

"Yeah…," he said slowly, forcefully dragging the word out, "we talk. Guys to guys. The guy didn't openly admit it, but all the signs were there….," he scratched the back of his head, partially regretting that he had brought it up in the first place. "Plus…y'know, Pepper and I talk and uh, yeah."

"I haven't told Pepper…or Nat," she said, tightening her eyes.

He threw his hands in the air in surrender. "Whoa whoa, look, whatever you guys got going on is –"

"Please don't tell Fury," she cut him off, closing her eyes for a second, "I didn't know that we weren't allowed to…uh…it just happened. He's helping with the nightmares, stupid, I know," she started rambling, "look, we didn't have –we haven't, uh, _done_ anything. We just –"

This time, it was Tony and Bruce's turn to interrupt. They both turned their heads and begged her to stop right there. She did. Tony let out a small laugh. It made the predicament less awkward for the whole room. "Relax, Ellie. We don't have rules. This is our home, not a boarding school for nuns. You can mess around with whoever you want, just please spare us the details."

Honestly, she felt like a total idiot at that point. It felt like she had told them more than they needed to know. Tony's words relieved her, though. Instead of talking to a principal, she was talking to her friends again. "Oh my God," she breathed, laughing at herself.

Bruce joined in. "Yeah, what he said. And uh, about the nightmares, it's not stupid. It's completely understandable, I mean as long as you're feeling better, right? If you're happy and _he's_ happy, who's getting hurt?"

Who_ is_ getting hurt? Absolutely nobody. She nodded her head once, considering what he was saying compared to the truth. She didn't really see the difference. It felt weird for a second –talking to Bruce and Tony about Steve. Although, she somehow expected _someone_ to bring it up sooner or later, she expected it to come from Pepper or Natasha. Even then, she would've still felt uneasy. But after a moment, it felt normal. It felt right. They were honest and open minded with her, plus she trusted both of them with her life, why wouldn't it feel right?

"Hey," she said on a more serious note. Her legs began to swing again and she found herself fiddling with the small rip in her jeans. "Back to the nightmares. I know it's probably _far_ too late to do this, I mean after all this time, but I was wondering if you could maybe evaluate me and maybe we could start treating it or something…"

Bruce's eyes widened. He and Tony exchanged another brief look before he nodded his head. "Yeah," he agreed, "Yeah, of course. When do you, uh, when do you want to start?" he stuttered, clearly taken aback that she had come up with such an idea.

She flashed him a small smile and hesitated. "Well how about now, if you're not busy with other stuff?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Stark, is that alright? We'll be a couple of hours tops."

"Sure," he sighed, checking his watch. "I needed to swing by the airport anyway. Pepper should be landing soon and I wanted to pick her up and go to lunch."

In a swift movement, he stood up and put on his jacket. "Thanks for doing the test, Ellie, I'll see you two later."

"Bye."

As soon as he disappeared into the elevator, Bruce moved closer and so the questioning she dreaded the most began…

…

In his office aboard the Helicarrier, Nick Fury stood looking down at the city through the window that practically took up the whole length of the wall. His hands were tucked behind his back as the light from the sun radiated down onto his skin and black leather coat. Behind him, two doors slid open as the woman marched inside clutching in her hand a folder with the S.H.I.E.L.D logo printed boldly on the front. She stopped a few feet away from him, lifting her bowed head as she took a small breath.

"Sir, we have a minor problem," she proclaimed, looking at the back of his head, where a black strap was wrapped around it, holding his eye patch. She took his silence as a signal to continue and opened up the file, immediately exposing a small profile picture of a black-haired agent. "I've just received a report claiming that Hayley Dixon is investigating the whereabouts of her daughter, Agent Elizabeth Dixon."

Fury soaked up one more glance at the horizon before slowly turning to face Maria Hill. "Your sources?" he questioned her, still with his arms behind him.

Maria took a quick look at the file. "She's been contacting Jackson Memorial, the facility Dixon escaped from before we found her. She found a snitch that told her about S.H.I.E.L.D and has requested to be reunited with her daughter."

"Where is she now?"

Hill bowed her head and closed her eyes for a second. "At HQ, waiting to meet you, sir."

"Arrange for her to be transported here. In the meantime, I'll contact Agent Dixon," he commanded her, finally taking the folder from her to read it himself.

She nodded once. "Yes sir," she agreed and spun around to leave. When she got to the door, she paused, hesitated and looked back at him. "Sir, I don't think it's a good idea to reunite them," she muttered, frowning. "It could trigger something. Dixon's powerful. Maybe more powerful than she knows."

"I hear you," he concurred, looking up at her from the file. "But it's not up to us. Find the mother and get her here. It anything _is_ triggered, we have to ensure that nobody gets hurt."

"Yes sir."

And with that she left, leaving Fury with a minor mission of his own: to get Ellie Dixon.

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**And so in comes Ellie's mother...dum dum! Don't forget to give me some feedback. Thanks for reading!**


	20. Chapter 20

**YAY YAY YAY CHAPTER 20! :D **

**Holy crap, we've come a loooong way. You honestly have no idea how much you guys mean to me. Thank you so so so so so much. I wish I could give you all cupcakes.**

**Anyway, here we go...ENJOY!**

**Love you guys.**

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_And I'd give up forever to touch you_  
_'Cause I know that you feel me somehow_  
_You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be_  
_And I don't want to go home right now_

-Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls

"Give it back, Ellie!"

She let out a laugh, shaking her head and holding out the book to read. "What do we have here?" she teasingly asked, paging through it. "Is this a _secret_ diary?"

"What? No!" he said quickly and stalked around the table to catch her. "Now, Ellie, kindly pass me the notebook." Just as he jumped in, she teleported to the living room area, where Clint, Bruce and Natasha were watching TV. Steve sprinted towards her, causing her to hurriedly hop onto the couch to get away. Clint let out a loud, obnoxious groan and tried to push her off, but she jumped off too quickly.

"_Any form of love is beautiful_," Ellie started reading aloud. She even put on her deepest voice, trying to mimic Steve. She scrunched up her face and looked at him. "Damn that's a block of cheese," she laughed.

Before he could respond, Clint did. "C'mon, knock it off you too. Nat and I are trying to talk," he complained, folding his arms. It was like talking to a couple of kids. Steve followed her tracks over the couch and as soon as he tried to lunge towards her, she disappeared to the other side of the room, still flicking through his book. The only time she stopped was when she stumbled across one of his drawings. Her smile faded as her finger brushed over the portrait of her.

He'd obviously drawn it a while ago –even before they got together. She recognized herself in the picture, wearing the dress from her 'Welcome' party back when she first joined. When she turned the page, it was another one –only of her at the carnival, laughing at something. The next one was of her in her pajamas, sitting on her bed, and the next was of her sleeping, hugging her pillow on her stomach.

"What the hell?" her lips motioned, then suddenly, she hit the ground with Steve, who had finally managed to tackle her down.

"Give it. Now," he told her and she willingly gave it back. He released her and the both sat up, looking at each other. "Are you done?" he firmly asked her, frowning.

"Yes, stalker."

She knew then that she had gone too far. Steve stood up without saying a word and started walking. Walking to his room. Walking away from _her. _Her small laugh had faded. The amusement inside had been replaced with a growing sense of embarrassment. Not for herself, though –for him. He had obviously kept the drawings to himself for a reason, even though she couldn't quite figure out why.

Silence drew around the room like an atomic bomb. Clint's mouth had been molded into an 'o' shape as he glanced at her from the couch. Natasha went still; but her pursed lips and raised eyebrows told Ellie everything.

"Steve," she swallowed. He didn't stop. In a second, she had gone from sitting on the floor to in front of him. "Whoa, I'm sorry," she said softly, shaking her head. "I didn't mean to…"

He looked to the side, jaw clenching. "Didn't mean _to what?_"

She opened her mouth, but found no reason to proceed. Steve stepped past her, shaking his head as he carried on about his business. Almost instantaneously, she followed, as if his body had some kind of gravitational effect on her.

"Hey, hey, hey, hold on," she called after him, grabbing his arm. "I was just fucking with you."

"Yeah, well you know that using your powers gives you an unfair advantage," he huffed, starting to smile a bit.

Her frown unfolded. She pressed her hands against his shoulders and shoved him back before starting to walk away. "Jerk!"

This time, he followed her, tucking his notebook underneath his arm as he chuckled. "Aw, c'mon, Ellie, I was only playing. You think I'd really get hyped up about you going through my things?" he laughed at her. She shook her head, holding back her grin as she tried to ignore him.

"You're a jerk," she said again, rolling her eyes. He let out another laugh as he followed her further. Teasing Steve was fun. But teasing _Ellie_ was a blast. He enjoyed each reaction when she fell for the same tricks. Sometime's she'd pretend to ignore him, but their little silent game only usually lasted for a few minutes. She would get over it quickly, then the tables would turn again with him on the other end of the stick.

"_You're a jerk_," he mischievously mocked. She turned around and pushed him again, feeding his appetite for laughter even more. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" he choked, rubbing his shoulder blade as if her push actually hurt him. He didn't even stumble back.

"_You better be_," she warned him, cocking her brow. "Or I'm gonna have to kick your star-spangled ass."

"Is that a threat?"

She narrowed her eyes and put her hands of her hips. "Jesus, Steve, when the _hell_ did you become _this _cocky?" she asked him, tilting her head as she waited for his list of excuses to roll in.

"Okay okay, I'm sorry," he apologized, lifting his hands in surrender. With his arms out of the way, she quickly grabbed the book that had been tucked under his arm again. And so it began again, only this time he didn't react. He allowed her to flip through it as an apology. She spun around, gently paging, admiring how good of an artist he was. Usually, he kept his art locked away in his room, where nobody could find it. "Don't laugh, alright? It's not that –"

"Shut up," she sighed, shaking her head as she studied a portrait of the Avengers Tower. "It's fucking incredible."

The closest thing she could find to sit on was the stairs. He tracked her and towered over her as she sat down. Ellie took her sweet time going through the book. She didn't want to miss a single detail. The first few pieces were of landscapes and buildings pulled together by skillfully curved pencil lines. Her biggest fear was to ruin something, either by smudging, tearing or accidently folding a page.

She turned the page. It was of a woman. Short, curled brown hair framing a beautiful face. She was flawless –everything about her. Her eyes, her lips, her hair. Each feature complemented the next in an ongoing cycle.

"Who's this?" she breathed, definitely not intending for her voice to suddenly croak like that. Steve's lip parted. He had completely forgotten about those drawings. His throat clenched tightly, sucking out his voice.

How could she _ever_ compete with _that_? How could she ever expect him to feel something similar to the way he obviously felt for this mystery woman? There was no competition. The woman had already won. It was easy to guess who he would pick between the two of them –it was the pathetic girl against the stunning woman. Even she wouldn't have chosen herself.

She looked away as she sunk into the ground. Peggy Carter held Steve Rogers' heart.

"Was she your wife?" she forced out in a soft mumble.

He managed to shake his head. "No."

For whatever reason, that made her feel a bit better. At least now it was only her against the woman, and not her against his _wife_.

"We didn't know each other for long, but she was one of the few who actually believed in me _before_ the serum." The book closed. "Peggy Carter," he whispered, taking a seat next to her. "My first kiss. My first love."

"Is she…"

He shook his head.

"I visit her in hospital, back in DC. Sometimes it's like she can't even remember me."

"I'm sorry," she said softly, bringing her knees up. "I can't imagine how that feels."

Steve shook his head, the corner of his lips tugging up. "I guess things happen for a reason. I mean, now I got you, right?" he asked, nudging her with his elbow.

"Steve," she breathed, feeling more at ease. "I'm warning you –," she went on, finally looking back at him, "I might not be going anywhere for a long while. Once you have me, I'm yours 'til the end, because I don't have anywhere else to go."

He nodded his head. "The same goes for me," he agreed, "except you've had me since day one."

That finally got a smile from her. She turned her head the other way, trying to hide it her sudden introversion. He looked away too, forced by the rising awkward tension between them.

"Uh, can I have my book back ple –"

She quickly silenced him with her lips and he immediately returned the favor by sweeping his fingers over her cheek. Her body leaned over as she mirrored him. A moment later, it came to a quick end as she pulled away, grinning.

"No," she shook her head. "Come get it."

Before he could respond, his body fell forward in an empty space. The entire place erupted with the echoes of her footsteps and giggles as she ran as far away as possible. He rolled his eyes, snorting as he stood up to find her, even though he already knew where she'd be.

...

"…Bucky, take…my hand…," he mumbled, shaking his head frantically as his body tossed and turned restlessly next to Ellie. Since she was a heavy sleeper, it took a while before she began to hear him sob beside her in his deep sleep. She only started to wake up when she felt him grab her t-shirt from behind, twisting his fist tightly.

She woke up irritably at first, wanting to know why he was waking her up at such an obscene time. It was at least 4am. "What the hell -," she groaned, rubbing her eyes and lifting her head to get a look at him. That was when she saw him rolling around, burying his face into the pillow and whimpering. She had never, _ever_ seen Steve Rogers in that state before.

Her next immediate move was to completely wake up and try to get him awake, too. She still owed him for doing the same to her. She sat up, hovering over him.

"Steve," she called out, sitting up and gently shoved him. He shook his head. She repeated his name, only louder. "Steve, wake up!" That was all it took. Within the next second, he opened his eyes. His breathing calmed down quickly, unlike hers, which usually broke her down. He tried to explain himself to her. He wanted so badly to give her a reason as to why Captain America was rolling around, crying in his sleep and waking her up by pulling her clothes.

When he tried to speak, no words came out. She didn't care.

"Hey hey hey hey hey," she whispered, "come here." He obeyed by shifting closer. Ellie gently progressed her hand across his jaw to the back of his neck. "It's alright," she assured him, brushing the back of his head with her hand. He didn't move a muscle. "Look at me, baby boy, it's alright."

Ellie's hand stopped caressing the nape of his neck. He looked up at her, her hands then holding each side of his face above hers. She pressed her lips against his forehead softly; he closed his eyes as she pulled away as if it hurt. After a while, Steve reached out his arms around her waist, accepting her. He closed his eyes once again and tried to fall asleep to the soothing touch of her fingertips running through his hair slowly.

"That's it," she breathed. His short, quick breaths turned into soft, calm ones. "It's okay."

She spent a half hour that night, holding him until he went back to sleep. Every few minutes, she'd lightly lift her head to see whether he was asleep or awake. Only once she was certain that he was out, she closed her eyes too and fell asleep almost a few seconds after.

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**Aww, poor Cap :( **


	21. Authors note

Holy crap, it's been a loooong time. I'd like to express my utmost apologies for stringing you all along like this, it's not fair. With that said, I have some good news.

Stellie is back, baby!

I'll be updating this story soon. I'm not sure when exactly, but I know that it will be in the near future. The reason I haven't updated was because I fell out of love with this story completely. I started hating it so much than even the thought of writing it gave me a headache. But that's over now, and I'm back with a while lot of fresh ideas.

Stay tuned, you amazing readers. Stellie will return soon, to kick some Marvel ass!


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